A mum and her two children are stuck on the Portuguese island of Madeira after their passports and phones were allegedly stolen from their hotel room.
The family travelled to the island on Monday last week after the holiday to southern France they had originally booked was cancelled.
Mum Hayley Frame and her two sons could not check in straight away so they left their luggage in the bags room of the hotel and went for a walk, bringing all the important documents with them.
When they returned to Jardins d'Ajuda - a four-star hotel in the city of Funchal - they were able to enter their room but felt very hot so they decided to wear their swimsuits and go to the swimming pool, NottinghamshireLive reports.
About half an hour later, they returned to the room and Hayley's son told his mum he could not find his phone, while she couldn't find the charger.
As she realised they had unpacked everything, Hayley understood the phone, charger and passports were all in the same place - and had disappeared.
The mum said: "Someone had obviously come in and taken them, so I start thinking gosh why did we not shut the door properly, and when I went to the door you could see that even when you pulled it and it clicked, you could push it and it would open again, it was a problem with the door frame."
Hayley contacted Jet2 holiday as she had booked the trip through the provider and was told to contact police.
She claimed three maintenance men were called by the hotel's reception to try and fix the issue as she said: "It wasn't the lock, it was the frame that had been forced."
She added: "All I kept getting told was that these things in Madeira don't happen, these things don't happen, they kept saying that I need to look again, I need to look again, like I had lost them. I haven't lost a charger, a phone, and three passports, and the door had been forced.
"I reported it all to the police, but they seemed to be more interested in how much my phone was worth. We had a massive language barrier and I was having to use Google Translate."
The hotel maintenance staff were able to fix the door, but the family felt scared and unsafe in their room due to what happened. Hayley said: "My children are only eight and nine and they were just petrified, and the whole time the door was being fixed we were scared to leave the room in case someone came back.
"It was just horrendous and nobody seemed to get this. I went to reception to ask if we could move rooms because we would feel safer, and they just said these things don't happen, nobody will come into your room, these things do not happen on this island.
"But it has happened, it's happened to me."
Hayley asked Jet2 to change hotels, but was told it would take up to three days and she would need to pay the extra costs.
However, she already had to pay £300 for the family's emergency travel documents, which are being couriered from Lisbon to an honorary confidant on Madeira and will then be given to Hayley.
Although Hayley had insurance for the holiday with the holiday, it does not cover all the expenses she has incurred due to the incident.
She said: "I rang my insurance and they said I'm covered for the theft of the passports and they think I should be able to claim for the emergency travel documents, but all these associated travel costs are not covered, it's only in the case of like medical emergencies."
They were due to fly back to East Midlands Airport today but have been told that the documents won't arrive until Friday, so Hayley had to pay a difference of £176 to book the new flights.
And for the remaining days, she had to find and pay for alternative accommodation as the hotel where they were staying was fully booked for the entire week.
She will also have to miss days of work due to this incident and her children won't be able to attend the first days back at school.
A spokesperson from Jet2 said: "We are sorry to hear of Miss Frame’s experience. Our teams have liaised with Miss Frame throughout, and are continuing to do everything they can to support her.
"Due to data protection, it is important to note that we are unable to request emergency passports on Miss Frame’s behalf as this must be done by the customer. Only once the emergency passport has been received from the UK Embassy, can a flight be booked, as the passport must correspond with a particular date of travel otherwise it is invalid.
"We have advised Miss Frame of this, and that she will need to go through her insurance company to book new flights and accommodation. We are continuing to assist and provide guidance to Miss Frame.”
The Mirror has contacted the local police and Jardins d'Ajuda hotel for comment.
Hayley's friend also set up a GoFundMe page to help her raise money to return home. You can donate here.
