I LOST MY PASSPORT ON PLANE AND ENDED UP LOCKED IN A CELL
Woman, 65, held in detention centre for over 24 hours
A GREAT-GRAN was held in a cell and ‘treated like a criminal’ in a Spanish airport after losing her passport.
Sharon Dempsey, 65, mislaid her passport on a British Airways flight from Glasgow to Alicante.
She was bound for two weeks in Benidorm with her brother, Thomas Donnelly.
After landing at about 9am on Saturday, Sharon realised her passport was missing.
She was then hauled into a detention centre by Spanish police and held for more than 24 hours.
The traumatised OAP allegedly went without food or water till 10pm after her detention as frantic relatives tried to sort the issue. Her daughter, Adele Dempsey, got documentation from the Foreign Office that enabled Sharon to fly with British Airways to London Gatwick on Sunday.
Exhausted Sharon got back to her home in Glasgow’s Drumchapel on Monday morning.
Tearful Sharon said: “I’m so exhausted, I can’t think straight after what has happened.
“I’m totally devastated at how I was treated.
“Thomas is still in Benidorm and I want to get an emergency passport to join him, but don’t think I’ll be able to do that in time. I’m only just back in Glasgow now, it’s awful.”
Sharon’s long-awaited fortnight in the sun was booked to celebrate Thomas surviving a quadruple bypass last year, while she survived three bouts of Covid-19.
But their all-inclusive break turned into a nightmare when the great-grandmother of three and gran of 14 was locked in a cell.
Furious Adele, 34, said: “I know that rules are rules but she was being treated like a criminal – not just someone who had accidentally lost her passport. She knows for certain that she had it My mum was kept in a detention centre at the airport, similar to a cell, and wasn’t given anything decent to eat or drink.
“She had two cold rolls and water and that’s it.
“She was obviously really stressed but they didn’t even allow her outside to have a cigarette or give her hot meals.”
Adele, who now lives in Donegal, Northern Ireland, spoke to the Consulate who advised her to book a flight back to Glasgow for Sharon after being given emergency documents provided by them.
But Spanish authorities allegedly stated that her flight home needed to be with British Airways. Their next available flight back to the UK was bound for London Gatwick – and not until lunchtime on Sunday.
Adele added: “On the Sunday, without any explanation, my mum was frogmarched through Alicante and put on a London flight by police, held arm-in-arm.
“Police then met her at the other side, it was like she was a criminal.”
The Home Office confirmed the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office worked with Spanish authorities to get Sharon home.