The volcanic ash cloud which brought Britain to a standstill has cost Lancashire's economy almost £25m, it can be revealed.
Figures released by the North and Western Lancashire Chamber of Commerce estimate the county was hit to the tune of £4.15m a day over the course of the six-day crisis.
Small businesses were hit with hundreds of lost man hours with workers trapped overseas, lost orders, had goods delayed in transit and saw perishable products have to be destroyed.
Peter Osborne, managing director of Preston taxi firm Millers City Taxis, said its fleet of self-employed drivers had lost around £14,000 in fares from people travelling to and from airports during the crisis.
He said: "The work just fell off a cliff, we would expect to do around 200 airport runs in six days and obviously we did none.
"We have had to put all those on hold now and we are still not sure when people are going to come back, we are just sat here waiting.
"One customer rang in from the Canary Islands saying he's not coming back until May 3 and another said he was coming back from Los Angeles on Sunday, but as all our drivers are self-employed it depends who is on shift as to who gets the fare.
"It is going to be a hit for someone definitely."
Blackpool Airport was forced to ground its Jet2.com flights to Alicante, Malaga, Faro and Belfast for a week until last Thursday, with Aer Lingus' daily service to and from Dublin cancelled for six days until last Wednesday.
Spokesman Sue Kendrick said that more than 4,000 passengers using the terminal were affected by cancellations as the skies of Britain were shut for the first time since the Second World War.
She said: "Losses to the industry as a whole will run into the billions of pounds, which will add even more pressure as the market emerges from the effects of the recession."
Florist Margaret Mason, who has run her business from Friargate in Preston city centre for 49 years, said she had missed deliveries from South America.
She said the exotic blooms from Colombia and Ecuador had not been available through her wholesaler with imports cancelled by the delays.
The florist said: "We have not let anyone down; there have been times where we have not been able to use the flowers we had wanted to use but we have always found an alternative.
"I am expecting it to last a while longer until things get back to normal."
The Centre for Economic and Business Research calculated that the crisis cost the UK economy £230m a day.
