A disabled Scots mum and her family were left wandering the streets of Paris in sub zero temperatures without food or money for three days after their easyjet flight home was cancelled.
Carol Vanbeck, 50, her husband Ian, also 50, and their 17-year-old son Joel went to Paris for a week on December 5 and were due to return home on December 12.
But when weather conditions meant their flight from Charles de Gaulle airport back to Edinburgh couldn't go ahead, the family claim they were 'abandoned' by easyjet with no food or drink after running out of cash at the end of their trip.
Carol, from Markinch in Fife, also said that while they waited for the next flight home on December 12, they were ordered to check out of their hotel each morning, before rebooking a room through easyjet for later in the day, leaving them out in the cold for hours on end with nowhere to go.
Speaking of their ordeal, former nurse Carol who is medically retired because of mobility problems caused by a tumour she had removed from her back, said: "It was a nightmare. We had no money, no food or drink and it was -5c outside.
"When we told easyjet they just said we should phone up friends and family to get money, but we can’t do that. Most people don’t have a lot of extra money lying about just now.
"I have mobility problems and get tired really easily after I had a massive tumour on my back removed and my husband had an operation on his leg so he really struggles with standing and the cold weather.
"At one point I developed a chest infection and I just broke down at the hotel desk. So they eventually let us sit in the reception foyer.
"The whole thing was just horrendous. The holiday was supposed to pick us up after a bad year, but the stress of this ruined it."
Carol said she was left frustrated by the lack of customer service from easyjet.
She explained: "We didn't see one easyjet staff member from the moment we were told our flight was cancelled. There was no one at Charles De Gaulle to tell us what to do.
"They should have someone on hand at the airport to advise people and they should have arranged hotels for everyone straight away, every day. Instead we were left to call up to do everything over the phone and it took hours.
"We felt abandoned. We will never use easyjet to fly again."
An easyJet spokesperson said: "“Unfortunately the Vanbeck family’s flight from Paris to Edinburgh on Monday 12 December was unable to operate due to adverse weather conditions impacting airlines operating to and from the UK.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and we did all possible to minimise the impact of the weather disruption for customers, offering hotel accommodation and rebooking options.
"We know options were unfortunately limited on some routes at this time due to weather disruption impacting all airlines and while this was outside of our control, we understand the difficulty this will have caused for which we are very sorry.
“We always want to ensure our customers feel supported, so we are in touch with the family to ensure their well-being and understand more about their experience at the airport and their hotel so we can look into this with the airport, our ground handling provider at Paris Charles de Gaulle and our hotel provider, as this is not the level of support we expect for our customers.
"In addition to reimbursing them for any expenses they have incurred as a result of the cancellation, we are also offering a gesture of goodwill for their experience.”
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