A mum-of-two has spoken of her 'nightmare' after her father was sent home early from a holiday he booked to Ibiza. Kevin Plumbley, 71, from Beeston, went into the Co-operative Travel branch there and booked a month's holiday to Ibiza for £1,500 but with no insurance.
Midcounties Co-operative runs the Travel branches, and is independent to The Co-operative, which sells groceries. The holiday was a package, and Mr Plumbley flew out to Ibiza on May 31 with Jet2 from East Midlands Airport.
But, while he was staying at a hotel in San Antonio, Mr Plumbley suffered a number of falls, one of them on a week last Saturday (June 4) - forcing him to be taken to hospital in an ambulance. He stayed in overnight and was discharged the next day (Sunday, June 5).
Read more: Aiden Aslin's friend describes captured Briton sentenced to death as having 'heart of gold'
It was then decided Mr Plumbley would be repatriated following the falls, with the family saying the hotel he had booked was not suitable for his needs. According to daughter Joanne Plumbley, 43, a charity payroll officer from Chilwell, Mr Plumbley has osteoporosis recovering spine, which happens when the bones in the spine have broken, making it difficult to support the weight of the body. Mr Plumbley needs walking sticks to get around.
Ms Plumbley explained her dad's health had deteriorated in the past few years, and that he should not have booked the holiday as he needs to be looked after. Ms Plumbley explained her dad was supposed to have flown back on Monday (June 6) - but that all flights were full. She praised a member of staff from Jet2 who she said looked after Mr Plumbley until he could get on a flight back to England.
Mr Plumbley eventually touched down on Thursday (June 9) evening. But the whole affair has been stressful, his daughter said, not knowing when her father would be able to return safely.
Ms Plumbley said: "My father's health deteriorated rapidly during the Covid pandemic. He's not been that receptive to outside care, but that will change now after this. Around Christmas time last year, he went on holiday to Tenerife to enjoy Christmas and New Year out there on his own, but he missed his flight home, he lost his suitcase, everything went wrong and I've no idea how he got home. I said to him he shouldn't do that again."
But, despite this experience, she explained Mr Plumbley went on to book the Ibiza holiday. Ms Plumbley herself was on holiday when she received a text from one of her father's friends.
She said: "I was out in Benidorm at the time, and I got a text saying my father is being kicked out of his hotel, it ruined the last day of my holiday. It was because the place was not suitable for him, it was all an absolute nightmare. The mind never ages, but the body does. He lived and worked abroad a lot when he was younger and he loves the sun.
"The British Consulate was then involved to try and get him home - they were brilliant, you don't know how good they are until you need to use their services. I'm disgusted he was allowed to book this himself, especially with no insurance, it doesn't sit right.
"Surely those that sold him the holiday should have seen that he was not able to go the moment he walked through the door? I want to try and raise some awareness of this."
A spokesperson from the Midcounties Co-operative said: "We pride ourselves on providing the best possible service to our customers and have helped more than 100,000 people travel abroad in the last twelve months alone. We were of course concerned to hear about Mr Plumbley's experience and are working closely with Jet2 to establish the facts and resolve the situation as quickly as possible."
