residents left hundreds of returning Christmas shoppers with short tempers and long waits at the Airport yesterday afternoon.

The Royal Gazette was contacted at 2 p.m. by frustrated Bermudian Andrea Tucker who had returned to the Island earlier on board the USAir flight from Philadelphia.

Ms Tucker called from a pay phone inside the airport's baggage claim area and said: "It's chaos down here.

"People have been here since 12.15 and have not been able to get their bags because the conveyor belts are broken.

"Nobody's moving -- there's five flights in and it's total confusion -- it's chaos!'' Ms Tucker reported that people were climbing over the belts to get out on the runway tarmac.

"I have not seen any bags and I've been here since 1 p.m. There are tourists here too and they are disgruntled.

"Someone said they can't even unload the planes at the moment -- this is the pits,'' she moaned. "An immigration officer said it's been like this all day.'' Ms Tucker estimated there were four to five hundred people in the Airport and said many locals around her were blaming the new Customs system.

Another returning resident, Vincent Minors, said: "This is pure chaos -- I've been here for an hour.

"I don't think anyone has got their bags yet and now they're telling us we have to go outside and find our bags.

"There ain't nothing happening -- people are saying the conveyors belts are broken.'' Mr. Minors -- who had returned from Newark on the Continental flight at noon -- said he had passed through Immigration but could not get in to the baggage hall which was packed with people.

He said people were crawling out through the holes the conveyor belt passed through to get outside and get their bags.

He also levelled blame at the new Customs system.

"This new system does not work -- it's like chaos. And now they're telling locals and tourists alike to go outside and search for their own bags.'' Airport manager for maintenance and engineering Marshall Minors said there were two things which combined to create the massive delays.

Mr. Minors added that he had been caught up in the pandemonium himself as he too had returned from overseas yesterday.

"There were quite a number of people returning from their annual Christmas shopping excursions to the US and four or five aircraft landed together in a very short time span,'' he said.

Conveyor belts to be replaced "This created a backup in the Customs hall where they are going through their new system which normally works quite well.'' But he said the system could not cope with the volume of people that were all waiting to pass through and neither could the conveyor belts.

"The conveyor belts overheated,'' he said, "it was not a mechanical problem.'' Mr. Minors said: "The motors in the belts have a system which shuts them down if they begin to overheat to protect themselves.

"This combined with the back up caused by the Customs system worked together to create a very uncomfortable and stressful environment.

"The hall was packed with people who were tired of travelling and just wanted to get through the process and go home.

"It's unfortunate that the conveyors are old and due to be replaced. They have not been able to cope with the volumes of travellers the Airport has experienced recently.'' Transport Minister Wayne Furbert said the belts were due to be replaced as part of the next Budget, which should also contain funds for the renovation of the entire arrivals area which will enlarge the present baggage hall.

He added that the problems experienced yesterday happened every long weekend when people were returning from shopping for Christmas and Government's upcoming plans for the area should allay the problem.