Children were 'scared and crying' as thousands gathered amid New Year's Eve fireworks 'chaos' at Castlefield Bowl

Children were left 'crying' as families were being 'pushed and shoved' in the street outside the New Year's Eve fireworks event in Manchester, some attendees have claimed.

The long anticipated fireworks display, which made its return to the city after four years, was hosted at Castlefield Bowl and had capacity within the event space for 10,000 people on a first come, first serve basis.

The gates had to be closed by security over an hour before the fireworks were due to start after the outdoor amphitheatre hit capacity, causing further crowds of people to spill into the surrounding streets and cause the roads to become 'gridlocked'.

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In one picture shared online, captioned 'Manchester Madness', thousands of people can be seen filling up Duke Street, surrounding cars, in scenes one dad likened to being 'packed like a can of sardines'.

One dad, who was among the thousands of people trying to catch a glimpse on Liverpool Road, claimed he had to leave before the fireworks had even started due to the 'chaos', that saw children 'scared and crying'.

He raised concerns about the central location of the display and the tens of thousands of people that were quickly filling up the streets, suggesting that larger outdoor areas like Heaton Park or Alexandra Park would have been safer and more suitable.

He said: "It was the first fireworks event in so long and the capacity was 10,000 people, so of course it was going to fill up quickly.

"The gates were closed off and we were on Liverpool Road. There were queues and queues and the crowds were pushing and shoving; it just kept getting busier with people trying to get in.

"People were trying their