It’s been a long road home via Warsaw to Wishaw for a family who fled Ukraine.
Scott Yardley was over the moon to have his wife Liza home after a saga involving a visa wrangle and travel trouble that saw them stuck in Poland for weeks, with no real certainty of when they’d get to Scotland.
Liza and her two teenage daughters Anya and Ira left Dnipro for Poland just prior to the Russian invasion.
Scott then flew over to Krakow to assist them in their bid to reach the UK thinking he’d only be there a few days. However, days turned to weeks as the women were sent from pillar to post across the country as they tried to secure the appropriate documentation.
Then when they did finally board a Ryanair plane to Edinburgh, a flight crew refused to take-off with their pet cat Dobby onboard.
Liza was forced to remain in Poland and travel across Europe to Scotland by bus with the feline while Scott, Anya and Ira made their way to North Lanarkshire on a later flight.
Scott said: “Liza travelled from Krakow to Calais on the bus from Krakow, it took 25 hours going through Germany, Holland, Belgium and France.”
Liza arrived at the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) office near Calais to find it closed and had to book into a hotel for the evening, returning the next morning to arrange travel and quarantine for Dobby when he arrived in the UK.
But just when Liza thought it was time to finally leave mainland Europe to travel to London there was another spanner in the works. None of the ferry companies at Calais were accepting foot passengers.
Thankfully, kind-hearted Frances and Greg Leff from Buckinghamshire were asked by pet passport officials if they could help out and they agreed to take Liza and Dobby with them as they travelled home via Eurotunnel.
They were unaware of what the mum-of-two had endured in the previous few weeks.
Frances said: “We were just asked if we could take Liza in our car by the authorities as they are not allowed to take human passengers. No ferries were taking any foot passengers so she had no way of getting over the channel.
“We were given all the paperwork for Liza, and assisted through passport controls without fuss. It was all very compassionate. It was a pleasure to help.
“Pets from Ukrainian refugees are given free quarantine apparently. Which is great.”
Liza parted company with the couple and made her way safely to Scotland on the final leg of her journey but Dobby will need to wait a bit longer before being reunited with Anya and Ira.
With Scott translating, Liza said: “I’m feeling a lot better now that I’m here. It will take a bit of time but we are slowly getting used to being here.”
“Dobby is up near Aberdeen now as it’s the only quarantine place in Scotland,” Scott added. “He will be a maximum of three months there or until he gets a negative test for rabies.
“It’s been an emotional few days and I’ve completely lost track of time. We’re sorting out the documents and we’ve collected the residence permits from Glasgow.
“Between myself and my parents we’re making sure that the girls are kept busy and we’re making a deliberate point of not putting the news on. Mariupol’s been flattened and we went our holidays there in August. It’s been absolutely decimated.”
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