Britons stranded by sandstorm sleep on ‘dirty airport

THOUSANDS of British holidaymakers stranded in the Canary Islands after a sandstorm grounded flights home suffered a third day of frustration yesterday.

Some complained that children and elderly people were forced to sleep on “dirty airport floors” after tour operators failed to find them hotel rooms for the night.

Leigh Lucas, 44, from east London, on a Tui package holiday in Lanzarote, said: “We’re having a bit of a nightmare to be honest.Tui are really not looking after us very well. They’re really making the whole ordeal worse.”

Ms Lucas said her family were told to check out of their hotel and board a coach to the airport on Sunday, despite their flight being cancelled. About six hours later, at 1am yesterday, they were taken back to their original hotel.

She said: “There’s lots of elderly people, babies – it’s just really bad – no organisation whatsoever.”

Graham Whiteman, 30, who is waiting to fly back to Doncaster after airlines were given the all-clear to take off yesterday, fears he will run out of medication before the backlog of 860 flights is cleared. He said: “I am Type 1 diabetic and when I explained to a Tui rep that I will not have enough insulin for the next 24 hours, their response was they would deal with it when it becomes an emergency.

“The duty of care for their customers is a disgrace. Children and elderly adults having no option but to sit and sleep on the dirty airport floors.”

Tim Crew, 69, was due to fly to Lanzarote with his family on

Sunday after cancelling a trip to Hong Kong and Thailand because of the coronavirus outbreak. But their BA flight from Gatwick was cancelled. “It’s not great but these things happen,” he said.

A spokesman for Tui said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to customers for the disruption caused by the adverse weather. We are working tirelessly to find the best solutions for all our customers.”