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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Travel
Isabelle Bates

Grandad's £14k TUI nightmare as granddaughter 'stranded at hotel with dirty cot'

A young girl was left to sleep in a 'dirty cot' after their holiday flight was cancelled at the last minute, a family has said.

John Taylor was travelling with a group of ten, including his one-year-old granddaughter and elderly great-grandmother, on a trip to Rhodes in Greece when things started to go wrong.

The group arrived at Birmingham Airport and made it to departures, only for TUI to email them to say the flight had been cancelled seven hours after they arrived, Birmingham Live reported.

They were told to return to the airport the following day.

John, 42, said his family were put up in a Birmingham hotel for the night where he says a 'dirty cot' was provided for his young granddaughter.

Have you had a horror holiday experience? Email webtravel@reachplc.com

The family were in the departures lounge when they got the cancellation email (AFP via Getty Images)

The whole ordeal has left a dampener on the family's holiday, the Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham man said.

"Whilst we should have been sipping cocktails by a pool in Greece on Saturday afternoon we were paying £6 a pint in Wetherspoons at Birmingham Airport," John said.

"We were travelling to Rhodes scheduled to depart at 5.10pm on Friday evening. It was a big family holiday we had booked months ago.

"We had a party of 10 travelling including our granddaughter and 86-year-old great-grandmother. We all assembled at the airport, checked in and passed through security.

"We paid for airport lounge passes and literally just checked into the lounge when we received an email from TUI at around 3.15pm saying your flight has been cancelled."

He added: "We waited hours in the airport trapped with no information whatsoever.

They got on a TUI plane 22 hours later (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"We were inside the airport for over seven hours before a Swiss Port member of staff finally took us through border control and back into check-in where our bags lay waiting.

"We then had to get into taxis and check in to the hotel before being transported back to BHX at around 9.30am Saturday morning."

John claims the family finally took off at 2.22pm on Saturday afternoon - 22 hours later.

"We are all absolutely appalled by the handling of this debacle by TUI and are seeking compensation for the loss of our days holiday, airport expenses not to mention the upset and stress caused," he continued.

A spokesperson for TUI said: "We fully understand the frustration of customers due to travel from Birmingham to Rhodes on 2nd September on flight TOM7750.

"Unfortunately, knock-on operational disruption meant the crew were outside their regulated maximum working hours so the flight had to be delayed overnight to give them enough rest time.

"We kept customers updated throughout and affected passengers will be refunded for the missed night of their holiday."

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