A couple were forced to spend the night in a Barbados bus stop after a travel agent mix-up meant they were barred from boarding their flight home.
Delivery driver Darryl Morrey and his NHS nursing assistant partner Rebecca had spent a week in an all-inclusive hotel on the Caribbean island with 20 friends and relatives for his mum's £30,000 wedding. They had splashed out £2,800 on the trip of a lifetime which had been paid off monthly. But when the pair arrived at Bridgetown airport to fly back to Manchester, check-in staff told them they had no record of their booking.
Despite 50 frantic calls to their travel agent Love Holiday's emergency number, the Aer Lingus plane jetted off without them at 6.20pm on Wednesday (April 6).
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It meant that the couple - who have five children between them back home in Cheadle - were stranded in Barbados with no money, accommodation or phone credit. Everyone else in their party had been able to catch their planes out of the country.
After spending the night on the streets of the capital, they befriended a British couple who allowed them to log onto their Wifi. Darryl's mum then paid £1,200 for TUI flights back to Manchester yesterday evening (April 7) around 24 hours later than they should have flown out. Dad-of-one Daryl, 30, and mum-of-four Rebecca, 30, were due to finally land in Manchester this morning (April 8).
Darryl - a former soldier who completed two tours of Afghanistan - told StokeonTrentLive : "When we got to the airport, they said they had no record of us being on that flight. We'd got there three-and-a-half hours early so I thought we'd get it sorted. I called Love Holidays' emergency number but they kept telling us to wait. I rang 50-plus times and used 750 minutes of credit. They told us to speak to British Airways, a partner of Aer Lingus, but there wasn't anyone there to help. They still wouldn't let us on the plane and it took off without us.
"We'd been all inclusive at the hotel and we'd used all our spending money so we were completely stuck. All our relatives were uncontactable as they were in the air.
"We ended up spending the night at a bus stop. It was really scary for my partner, we didn't get any sleep at all. There were men approaching her and drug deals going on. The hotel was really safe but it's a different story in Bridgetown at night. We were being harassed and my missus was so scared.
"Taxis are really expensive. We just sat there and begged people to borrow their phone. Luckily we befriended a British couple who were willing to help and let us use their WiFi.
"My partner has four kids at home and I have one. We're just glad we took the decision not to bring them with us. It's been a complete nightmare."
The couple believe the mistake arose after Love Holidays booked them on flights out on March 28 instead of March 30. It is thought they were classed as no-shows and their holiday was cancelled as a result.
Darryl added: "Love Holidays messed up the booking and had us going out and coming back two days earlier. They let us on the flight out but then stopped us getting back. It doesn't make any sense.
"My mum had to pay for the new flights on her credit card else we'd still haver no way of getting home. She's just paid £30,000 for the wedding so it's not on. After my mum paid for new flights Love Holidays rang me and eventually offered to pay for new flights. I'm now waiting to speak to a manager. We'll be doing everything we can to get our money back.
"The holiday was great, we had a brilliant time celebrating my mum's wedding. It's just been ruined by what happened."
Love Holidays is now investigating the complaint. A spokesman said: "We are sorry to hear that Mr Morrey and his partner experienced difficulties with the return journey on their trip and had difficulties contacting loveholidays via telephone. We appreciate any and all feedback from our customers and will be investigating this situation as a matter of urgency."
