Lee Mack so scared of flying he sends wife and kids on plane and drives to his holidays

Comic Lee Mack has told how he travels alone overland on family holidays while his wife and children fly separately.

The Not Going Out star revealed how on recent trips abroad, wife Tara and their three children flew to Barcelona and Switzerland - while he made his own way by road as he is scared of flying.

He also refuses to go in a car unless he is driving.

The comedian drove alone while on tour last year with fellow funnymen Rob Bryden, 55, and David Mitchell, 46, because he and Rob both wanted to be behind the wheel.

Revealing his solo travel habit, Lee said he hadn’t flown since he had to go on a special British Airways course to calm him down enough to get back from a Children in Need trip to Turkey with Frank Skinner eleven years ago.

Comic Lee Mack has told how he travels alone overland on family holidays while his wife and children fly separately (Getty)

Lee told the Walking the Dog podcast: “If we go on holiday - and we have done for the last couple of years – Tara has flown with the kids and I’ve met them there.

“And I’m including Barcelona, I’m including Switzerland.

“You know why - they won’t let me sit up front and drive it.

“I’ve asked. I’ve said ‘yeah, of course I’ll fly - can I drive?’ and they said ‘no, and you don’t drive a plane, you fly it’.

“And I’ve said ‘forget it then, I’ll go in the car’.”

The comedian travels to his family holidays alone (REX)

“I went on tour last year with Rob Brydon and David Mitchell and I did all my own driving.”

The only time he can face not being driver is on a train – which is how he reached Barcelona last year.

But Lee came unstuck on the Children in Need fundraiser Around the World in 80 days which involved circumnavigating the world without flying.

Lee, 52, said he and comedian Frank, 63, agreed to do just the first leg overland to the Turkish border, but he added: “The only problem was I was stupid enough not to realise I’ve got to get back.

He opened up about his huge fear (Getty)

“I thought I’ll get the train back. The problem was I worked out I would be arriving back on the afternoon of my wife’s 40th birthday.

“So I went on a flying course to teach me how to be less fearful of flying,

where at Heathrow you get to fly a simulated jumbo jet.”

He said on the morning of his flight home, the pilot explained exactly what the conditions were and what would happen at each stage in the air, which enabled him to cope with the return.

But he has never been able to fly since.

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