Thanks very much SwissTony, lots of useful information there which I've printed off so I don't forget!

We do have chauffeur drive. Although we live in North Wales we were outside the chauffeur drive limit for Manchester and it would have cost us heftily so we are overnighting at my mother's in Birmingham who is about 20 minutes drive from the airport so comfortably within the chauffeur drive zone. Such luxury

It would be nice to be fast tracked through the security channel, last time we used Manchester (to fly to Cyprus) the queue was very long and the woman who searched me was not only extremely surly but if it had been a man I would have reported him for being "overly zealous" if you get my drift!

Thanks again for all the tips.