A fox somehow got through the perimeter fence and ran onto the runway at Manchester Airport on Friday, forcing authorities to briefly stop operations.

"We were filming aircraft as per normal taking off from Runway 23L. Out of the corner of my eye i noticed an animal on the runway, later to discover it was a fox," the filmer said.

"This is something we have never seen before," he added.

"An animal on the runway can cause serious harm to the aircraft if struck whilst taking off."

"Operations were momentarily stopped but got back under way quickly," the filmer said.