An Edinburgh easyJet passenger was left without his bike and other essentials on an international trip after his luggage ended up in a completely different country.
Richard Davidson, a sports science professor, had been heading from Edinburgh Airport to London Stanstead, where he was due to fly onto the south of France to take part in renowned cycling race Haute Route Pyrenees.
Taking an easyJet flight for the first leg of the journey on July 3, the 55-year-old had checked in his expensive custom bike and cycling gear into the bag drop, however when he arrived in London his belongings were nowhere to be seen.
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Experiencing an issue with the label printer in Edinburgh Airport, Richard explained that easyJet staff had tried to help but had actually labelled his luggage with another passenger's information who was headed to Naples in Italy - hundreds of miles away from his final destination.
Arriving at Stanstead, he was forced to head to the South of France with none of his belongings - and is still yet to be reunited with them. Speaking to Edinburgh Live, he said: "I was going to the south of France for an event in the Pyrenees, the Haute Route, it's a five day bike rice and I took my bike and all the equipment for the race.
"When I got to Edinburgh in the morning it was a 6am flight and the check in had queues out the door but I got to the bag drop machine and scanned my pass and it said printer error so the operator said don't worry and came back with two tickets, put them on my bags and then when I got to Stanstead there was nothing.
"I asked if that was it and the handlers said yes, so they asked for my luggage receipts and it was only then that I actually looked at them, and it turned out they had printed off tickets for another passenger who was going to Naples.
"In two days time I was about to do a five day bike race, I spent around ten months getting ready for this and I had done about 5,500 miles worth of training.
"I reported it straight away but I got the inkling I was not going to see my things in time for this race. I managed to luckily hire a bike in France but I had to buy a helmet, shoes, shorts, and even normal clothes."
Now back in his home in Dunfermline, Richard explained he has been left still chasing up the airline, who have told him that they have been in touch with Naples but that his case is with the secondary tracing team.
He added: "My bike alone with the equipment on it is about £14,000 and I have no idea where it is. It's not just a bag of clothes, even the cycling clothing its custom made and that costs a fortune too."
An easyJet spokesperson said: "We are very sorry for the delay in reuniting Mr Davidson with his luggage. We are looking into why this happened with our ground handling partners at Edinburgh and Naples as this is not the level of service we expect for our customers and to ensure it is returned to him as soon as possible.
"We will be contacting Mr Davidson to apologise and offer a gesture of goodwill for his experience."
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