A terminally ill man said he is “not surprised” to hear Leeds Bradford Airport broke rules on night-time flying in summer last year.

Leeds City Council said following an investigation it determined there were 747 more night time flights at the airport than had been allowed.

There were a total of 3,667 flights between 11pm and 7am and the cap is 2,920.

The airport was served with a breach of condition notice ordering it to stick within the limits that had been agreed some years earlier, back in 2007.

John Stephens, aged 74, said: “Last summer it was awful. We felt it gradually got worse on a night so I wasn’t surprised to hear they’d breach their limits.

“We didn’t expect it to be by as many as nearly 800 though. I hear them taking off three or four times a night and it definitely booths me and wakes me up.

“You can see the end of the runway from our back bedroom and it echoes right across the valley.”

He described it as “a damn nuisance.” John’s son’s Richard is terminally ill and struggles with flights waking him up.

He said: “I take morphine when I go to bed and that knocks me out through most of them but when it starts to wear off I get woken by planes landing from about 5am.

“On a morning the noise is unbelievable, and once I wake up the pain hits me. Last summer it felt like it was getting earlier and earlier.

“We don’t have triple glazing on our house to help block the noise. I love the airport and I know its good for the area but there is a point when it’s difficult.”

Leeds City Council said LBA has put in measures since accepting it has breached the rules.

The airport will be monitored by the council to ensure they are complying with the rules as failing to do so could result in prosecution.

In a statement, the airport apologised for exceeding its allocation of night flights last summer “and we understand the impact that this has had on our neighbours.

“This was an accident that we have worked hard to put right”, it added.

The airport will continue to work with Leeds City Council to ensure conditions of the planning consent are understood by all parties and adhered to.

Airport CEO Vincent Hodder issued an apology and said: “I want to reassure our local communities that actions have been taken quickly to address the problems that led to this error.”

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