A Scots great-grandmother has been left 'devastated' after she was detained and 'treated like a criminal' in a Spanish airport.
Sharon Dempsey lost her passport on a British Airways flight from Glasgow International to Alicante on Saturday morning.
The 65-year-old was bound for two-weeks in Benidorm with her brother, Thomas Donnelly.
As a result of Brexit, British passport holders can only enter Spain with a stamped passport.
Upon landing at around 9am, and realising her passport was gone, Sharon, 65, was hauled into a detention centre by police and left till 12.30pm the next day.
The 'traumatised' retiree allegedly went without food or water till 10pm on Saturday as frantic relatives tried to sort the issue, and wasn't even allowed outside to have a cigarette as the drama unfolded.
Her daughter, Adele Dempsey, secured documentation from the Foreign Office that enabled Sharon to fly with British Airways to London Gatwick at lunchtime on Sunday.
'Exhausted' Sharon got back to her home in Glasgow's Drumchapel on Monday morning.
Holding back tears, Sharon told the Record: "I'm so exhausted, I can't think straight after what has happened.
"I'm totally devastated at how I was treated.
"Thomas is still in Benidorm and I want to get an emergency passport to join him, but don't think I'll be able to do that in time.
"I'm only just back in Glasgow now, it's awful."
Sharon's long-awaited fortnight in the sun was booked to celebrate Thomas surviving a quadruple bypass last year, while she survived three bouts of deadly Covid-19.
But their all-inclusive break away turned to a nightmare when the great-grandmother of three and gran of 14 was locked in a cell.
Meanwhile Adele, 34, tried everything she could to have her mum freed.
She told Glasgow Live : "I know that rules are rules but she was being treated like a criminal - not just someone who had accidentally lost her passport.
"She knows for certain that she had it when she boarded the plane as she had it open in case it needed checked.
"It wasn't checked on the plane so she put it back in her bag which was then kept under the seat in front of her.
"It wasn't until she was on the shuttle bus to the airport that she realised it wasn't there.
"She tried to get the shuttle bus back to try and get it but the staff weren't helpful and said that the cleaners can often throw passports away if they're left on the flight.
"She started to panic and was explaining what had happened to them in Spanish but the passport couldn't be found.
"My uncle waited on the other side of passport control and we eventually told him just to go to the hotel and wait it out. My mum was kept there overnight."
Critical care nurse Adele added: "My mum was kept in a detention centre at the airport, similar to a cell, and wasn't given anything decent to eat or drink.
"She had two cold rolls and water and that's it.
"She was obviously really stressed but they didn't even allow her outside to have a cigarette or give her hot meals."
Adele, who now lives in Donegal, Northern Ireland, spoke to the Consulate who advised her to book a flight back to Glasgow for Sharon after being given emergency documents provided by them.
But Spanish authorities allegedly stated that her flight home needed to be with British Airways.
Their next available flight back to the UK was bound for London Gatwick - and not till lunchtime on Sunday.
"On the Sunday, without any explanation, my mum was frogmarched through Alicante and put on a London flight by police, held arm-in-arm" Adele added.
"Police then met her at the other side, it was like she was a criminal. My mum was embarrassed as, understandably, everyone on the Gatwick flight was staring.
"She was in a terrible state, really upset.
"She said she hadn't even washed her face and felt so dirty and was left in tears outside Gatwick with another long wait to get back to Glasgow."
The Home Office confirmed that the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office assisted a woman who had lost her passport on her outbound flight to Spain and, together with Border Force, worked with the Spanish authorities to help facilitate her return to the UK.
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