Hundreds of Liverpool FC fans were turned away from Liverpool John Lennon Airport after a Paris-bound flight was cancelled at the last minute.
Fans arrived at the airport in Speke expecting to board the 4am flight to Paris for the Reds' Champions League Final v Real Madrid. But hundreds were turned away after the flight sold by tour operator WorldChoice Sports was cancelled.
Fans paid around £650 to fly to Paris this morning, May 28, and return on Sunday. Fans received text messages telling them their flight time had changed slightly but upon arrival found the flight had been cancelled without any indication as to why.
READ MORE: Liverpool fans stranded at the Rocket as Paris coach 'drives past' huge crowd
Steve Cook, from Formby, booked the return flights with Widnes-based WorldChoice Sports the day before Manchester City lost the second league of their semi-final v Real Madrid. The 56-year-old, who has followed the Reds across Europe and was there when the club won in Istanbul, was due to fly out on the 4am flight today with a friend.
Steve told the ECHO : "We got a text through to say the flight time had changed so we just presumed it had been delayed a bit. When we got there it was cancelled. I think there was supposed to be two other flights going after but with three flights worth of people it's difficult to say how many people would have managed to get on.
"There was a rep for WorldChoice Sports there but nobody was giving him any trouble or anything like that. Everybody was angry but everyone behaved themselves under the circumstances. It's not on though - they can't be relied on."
WorldChoice Sports attracted criticism in 2018 after three flights to Kyiv were cancelled ahead of that year's Champions League final. At the time the tour operator said it could not secure the landing slots at the airport.
Steve added the most disappointing thing was fans were asked if they had a ticket to the match when they booked via the tour operator. He said: "I had a ticket but god knows how many people are going to be left looking for one.
"There's people desperate for these things. We're going to have empty seats in the stadium as a result of this and that's simply not on."
Steve said he's going to now watch the game from home as it's too late in the day to make alternative arrangements to get to Paris.
Last night a large group of people was stranded at the Rocket pub after their coaches due to take them to Paris did not arrive. One fan told the ECHO only about five of the 24 coaches arrived leaving fans stranded and unable to get to the match.
The ECHO approached WorldChoice Sports for comment.
