Comedian Jason Manford has recounted the frightening experience when his flight swayed from side to side and had to abort landing due to the gusty winds brought by Storm Amy.

The season’s first named storm has caused chaos throughout Britain, with 100mph winds leading to several buildings collapsing, cars being crushed by fallen trees, London parks being shut, and 100,000 households experiencing power outages.

Manford, among those impacted by Storm Amy, was traveling from London City Airport to Belfast yesterday for a scheduled performance in Northern Ireland’s capital city – a show that was ultimately called off because of the ‘extreme weather conditions’.

On his Instagram, the 44-year-old Waterloo Road actor suggested on Friday afternoon that trouble was looming as he noticed passengers becoming anxious before the British Airways flight took off from London.

Manford shared: ‘I’m on a severely delayed flight to Belfast, and just after the safety demonstration, a woman informed the crew she wants to disembark! We’re practically ready to taxi and take off, and she simply doesn’t want to go through with it!

‘I’ve seen too much Final Destination to not take this seriously!’

While passengers deliberated their next actions, Manford uploaded a video of the pilot attempting to comfort them, explaining that the weather was still ‘workable’ for a safe journey.

‘We can’t force anyone to go where they don’t want to go. 

‘If there’s anyone else that’s in a similar position and would like to get off and stay in London at the moment, please make yourself known to the cabin crew and we will process that,’ the BA crew member said.

‘Take your time, think about it, but we don’t want to incur too many more delays on our way to Belfast.

‘As I say, the weather’s not the greatest, but it’s perfectly workable for us to get into Belfast at the moment. 

‘I can’t say exactly what it’s gonna be like with the process of landing the aircraft because it’s blustery and gusty and it is quite changeable at the moment.

‘But I’m prepared to go and believe you me, I’m not going anywhere that I don’t think I’m gonna be able to fly to, so, if that helps in any of your decision making.’ 

The comedian updated his now-invested 447,000 followers that four passengers ended up leaving the plane before take off.

But in the event, the weather conditions were too extreme for the pilot to land – and the plane diverted back to Manchester with Manford still on board.

Footage taken by a plane watcher on the ground shows the plane approaching the runway before the blustery winds threatened to blow it entirely off course and the pilot ascended again. 

A later post revealed that due to being diverted back, Manford’s show in Belfast had been cancelled. 

‘Due to extreme weather conditions caused by Storm Amy, the British Airways plane that Jason Manford was flying on this afternoon could not land in Belfast and was re-routed to Manchester.

‘This unfortunately means that Jason’s show tonight has been cancelled.’

Fans were told they would be contacted with a date for the rescheduled show.

‘On behalf of Jason, we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause,’ the statement added.

Having landed at Manchester, the comedian remained on the plane, which sat on the runway amid discussion of attempting the flight again. 

In an updated post, he said: ‘Not gonna lie, that was scary!’ 

‘After those women got off too! Premonition. Anyway, really sorry weather has scuppered our show tonight, will be back as soon as possible! Thanks for understanding and all lovely messages.’

He revealed the plane remained on the runway for a further two hours until the passengers were able to disembark and he was able to return home. 

The Met Office has issued a number of amber weather warnings today, with commuters advised of road closures, flooding and cancelled trains across the country.

Belfast International Airport said it was expecting delays on Saturday and advised passengers to check with airlines. 

In Ireland around 100,000 properties and in Scotland some 62,000 homeowners are still without power after the unrelenting storm knocked out supplies.

And Storm Amy’s powerful winds have reportedly caused damage to several buildings and cars across the UK.  

In Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, an entire flat roof was ripped away from a block of flats, while a derelict building collapsed in Broomielaw, Glasgow, Scotland, covering a car in debris.

The Met Office said the highest recorded gust on Friday was at Tiree in the Hebrides at 96mph, while a provisional October wind gust record for Northern Ireland was set as 92mph winds were measured at Magilligan in County Londonderry.

Across the north of Scotland, an amber warning for wind is in place until 9pm on Saturday with yellow warnings covering the whole of Scotland, the north of England and north Wales until the end of the day. 

A further yellow warning for wind runs until 7pm in the rest of England and Wales.

Yellow warnings for rain are also in place in north and west Scotland until midnight.

Traffic Scotland reported a lengthy list of road closures due to the bad weather with the Forth Road Bridge closed in both directions, while the Skye Bridge, Queensferry Crossing and Clackmannanshire Bridge were closed to high-sided vehicles.

The Tay Road Bridge reopened early on Saturday with a 30mph speed restriction and remained closed to high-sided vehicles.

The M48 Severn Bridge between Gloucestershire and Wales was closed overnight because of high winds while parts of the A19 Tees Viaduct, the A66 in Cumbria and the A628 near Manchester were closed to high-sided vehicles.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency had 30 flood warnings in place on Saturday, with the Environment Agency issuing six in the north of England and one in north Wales from Natural Resources Wales.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) have also said they are still working to reconnect power to 62,000 customers.

As of 7.30am on Saturday, power had been restored to 16,500 customers, but thousands were still without electricity due to wind gusts in excess of 100mph from Storm Amy, officials said.

Fraser Wilson, of SSEN, told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: ‘Work will continue this morning to get 62,000 people reconnected.

‘We expect because of the extent of damage to the network and conditions we are still going to be facing today that this will take some time, this storm is not over by any means.’

In the capital, all eight of London’s royal parks, including Hyde Park and Richmond Park, will be closed on Saturday because of expected strong winds.

A statement issued by Royal Parks said: ‘Due to severe wind gusts caused by Storm Amy, all of the royal parks, plus Brompton Cemetery and Victoria Tower Gardens will be closed on Saturday October 4.

‘This closure includes all park roads and cycleways, cafes and kiosks, parks sports venues, the Serpentine lido and boating lake, and the royal parks shop.’

It said opening times on Sunday will be delayed because of safety inspections.

‘The safety of visitors and staff is our top priority,’ the Royal Parks said. ‘We’re sorry for any inconvenience that these closures may cause.’

In Ireland, a man in his 40s died in a weather-related incident in Letterkenny, County Donegal, while around 100,000 properties are still without power.

The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and NIE Networks said that there were hundreds of thousands without power across the island at the height of the storm’s impact.

That number had fallen to just below 100,000 before 9am on Saturday, with 22,000 without power in Northern Ireland and 87,000 in the Republic of Ireland.

Crews warned it could take days before power is restored to every customer.

Much of the country will see an easing of wind and rain throughout the evening as the storm continues to move towards northern Europe, but severe gales are forecast to continue in north east Scotland.

A yellow warning for wind is in place from midnight until 9am on Sunday, covering the Orkney and Shetland Islands, Highlands, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

Sunday is expected to turn dry and less windy with sunny spells for most areas, but outbreaks of rain are expected in the north west.