Yesterday and today, I was on "earlies" at EGCC/MAN. Yesterday, we were in LVP's [Low Vis Procs]. ie one runway. Today, we had the 'official' opening of R2 by a certain politician. Ergo, one runway, yet again. The Departure Slot Monitor was running at 5 pages on both days.
When the Runway [ie Departure] rate was changed, the DSM went bananas. Changes of ONE MINUTE were coming up. Airfield (taxying) delays were runnig at 25-35mins. If there are 10 a/c at the hold, and you have 10mins to the start of the slot, you aren't going to make it.
One company re-routed 3 times to escape a MAN slot. They succeeded in delaying their a/c 55 mins.
In the UK, please, PLEASE talk to ATC we are here to [try to] help. HONEST