A Scots competitive cyclist has been left without his gear for a race after easyJet staff sent his luggage to Italy - while he flew to London.
Richard Davidson, a sports science professor, flew from Edinburgh to Stansted Airport, where he was due to fly onto the south of France to take part in renowned cycling race Haute Route Pyrenees. But while Richard touched down in London safe and sound, his luggage did not - and was in fact in Naples, Edinburgh Live reports
The 55-year-old said airline staff had labelled his luggage with the details of another person after experiencing problems with their label printer at check-in. He is yet to be reunited with his belongings - including the bike he needs to take part in the race.
He said: "When I got to Edinburgh in the morning it was a 6am flight and the check in-had queues out the door. I got to the bag drop machine and scanned my pass and it said 'printer error'.
"The operator said 'don't worry' and came back with two tickets, put them on my bags and then when I got to Stansted 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 is 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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