Ukrainian refugees arriving at Glasgow Airport were greeted by an empty 'welcome hub' and no staff to advise them where to go, it has been claimed.
One family landed at the airport at Saturday lunchtime to find there was no staff and no advice on offer on how to access temporary hotel accommodation.
The family of a mother and 10-year-old son, from Kyiv, were met by a friend, Glasgow University lecturer Joanna Szostek, who managed to obtain information from a phone line about where hotels were located.
Ms Szostek took them to two hotels before finding one that would house the refugees - but warned others, who do not speak English and do not have anyone to help them, could struggle.
It comes as it was revealed more than 800 Ukrainian refugees have been waiting since March to come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
Hosts frustrated by delays have compiled a spreadsheet detailing how many refugees are waiting since the scheme opened on March 18.
It showed visa applications for at least 622 Ukrainians, sponsored by 310 UK hosts, were still outstanding from the first week, while a further 261 refugees, sponsored by 130 Britons, waited for a decision on applications made during the second week.
The Scottish Refugee Council and Renfrewshire Council claimed the hub at Glasgow Airport should be staffed between 8am until 10pm, but Ms Szostek says she waited more than 20 minutes and asked at an airport information desk, but could not locate any workers.
Ms Szostek, who previously spent time living in Ukraine and is an associate fellow of the Russia and Eurasia programme at policy institute Chatham House, said she had called a helpline - issued with her friend's visa details - in advance of their arrival and was told there would be people waiting for them at the airport.
She was unable to take them in as she has already hosted another friend from the war-torn country.
Ms Szostek said: "If you search for information on the internet, there's nothing. I had phoned a couple of days in advance and said 'they're coming in on this Lufthansa flight at this time, and what do we do when they get here? Where do we go?'
"I had two long conversations with two very lovely people, who said just to get to the airport and there would be people there to help. They talked about the welcome hub that is supposed to exist.
"But at the airport, there was literally nothing apart from a sign.
"We were there for about 20 minute, I went over to the general airport information desk to ask what we should do and they just said they'd been told to direct people to a hotel, but they didn't tell us there should have been anyone from the council there."
Ms Szostek took her friends to the hotel mentioned by airport staff - one of three being used by the Scottish Government in Glasgow to temporarily house refugees until longer term accommodation is found - but was told they could not take them in without them having been directly referred by a council official or the police.
She then took them to one of the other hotels in the city centre, where the family was finally given a room.
Ms Szostek said: "It was like a catch 22 situation.
"They couldn't stay at that first hotel, because the welcome hub hadn't referred them, but there was no-one at the welcome hub.
"The staff at the hotel where we ended up were also very unsurprised when we said that we didn't find support at the airport.
"I don't think we were the first who had experienced that.
"It didn't matter too much for my friends, because I was there and could take them around.
"But for other people, who don't have that support and who don't speak good English, it would be more difficult."
The Scottish Refugee Council said its staff were due to be present at the airport in the morning and evening and stressed the Welcome Hub continues to be running.
A spokesperson for Renfrewshire Council said: "We are very sorry to hear about this person's experience.
"Staff from the Scottish Refugee Council and our resettlement team were based at the support desk inside Glasgow Airport all day on Saturday to meet arrivals.
"Along with the Scottish Refugee Council, we aim to have the support desk staffed at all times, but there may be brief periods when staff will be accompanying new arrivals to our Welcome Hub in a nearby hotel.
"Signs and banners at the support desk include a helpline number which can be called for assistance.
"It is our absolute priority to ensure those arriving in Scotland are safe, supported and welcomed."
Official figures show there have been 65,900 applications under the UK-wide sponsorship scheme since last Wednesday, with 39,300 visas issued.
As of last Monday, 6,600 refugees had arrived in the UK under the scheme - 17 per cent of those with visas.
A UK Government spokesman said: "Thanks to the generosity of the public who have offered their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the war and through the Ukraine Family Scheme, more than 71,800 visas have been granted with 21,600 Ukrainians arriving safely in the UK.
"The Home Office is now processing thousands of visas a day. This shows the changes made to streamline the service are working and we'll continue to build on this success so we can speed up the process even further."
