THE manager of an Oldham nightclub is ‘relieved and delighted’ with the Government’s decision to scrap the idea of vaccine passports.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced the u-turn over the weekend, a matter of weeks before the passports were supposed to be introduced.

Peter Marks, CEO of REKOM UK, which owns Oldham’s Liquid & Envy, was furious when the passports were announced two months ago, saying the Government had no understanding of his industry.

But Terry Bruce, general manager of the nightclub on Retiro Street, was delighted to see the back of them – at least for now, with Mr Javid saying the passports will be held ‘in reserve’ in case the pandemic worsens.

Terry said: “We are relieved and delighted with this decision.

“After all this uncertainty, we can now focus on what we do best, which is providing fun nights out and creating memories for young people who have already sacrificed so much during the pandemic in terms of their education and social life.”

He went on to stress the range of safety measures like cleaning and ventilation at Liquid & Envy, which reopened in July after a 16 months of closure.

The nightclub has made the most of the end to lockdown, with record numbers of revellers.

Terry’s response to the Government’s decision to scrap the idea of vaccine passports was similar to the response of Sacha Lord, Night Time Economy Advisor to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Mr Lord is also the co-founder of Parklife, the music festival which returned at Heaton Park on Saturday and Sunday, and which might also have been affected by the passports in future.

He too was delighted with the u-turn, calling the passports not only ‘untenable and illogical’, but ‘discriminatory and legally questionable’.

He said: “I’m pleased to see that the Government has listened to the events and nightlife industry and dropped the plan for vaccine passports.

“The plan was untenable and illogical and there were multiple factors which would have been discriminatory and legally questionable.”

“As a sector, we can now move forward, without hesitation or vague regulation.”