Fife pensioner ‘forced to sleep on baggage carousel at airport’

Upper Largo pair’s bid to stay warm after flight cancellation

A Fife pensioner had to sleep on an airport baggage carousel after flights were cancelled because of bad weather.

Care worker Wendy Erskine, 51, said her mother Edith, who had heart problems, was so desperate for a nap she tried to sleep on the conveyor belt to avoid having to curl up on the freezing floor of Charleroi airport near Brussels.

Meanwhile, Wendy tried to sleep under a sink in the men’s toilet while she claimed other stranded passengers slept on luggage trays.

She said the conveyor belt started up at 2am, but thankfully her mum, 74, managed to scramble off. She claimed she was ordered to delete images she took of the terminal chaos.

The pair’s three-day ordeal started on December 10 when they were returning home to Fife from visiting Wendy’s son in the Netherlands.

They had booked on a Ryanair flight from Eindhoven to Edinburgh but it was cancelled because of bad weather.

Wendy, who lives in Upper Largo, said they then had to travel 100 miles to Charleroi but that flight was also cancelled because of the weather.

She said she and her mother had to sleep in the airport that night as they were running short of funds.

The two women stayed in a hotel a second night at their own expense before finally boarding a flight back to Edinburgh on December 13.

Ryanair said the women had been told they would be reimbursed for any expenses.

A spokeswoman added the Eindhoven to Edinburgh flight on December 10 was regrettably cancelled because of snow.

“All affected customers were advised of their options – a full refund, a free transfer on to the next available flight or a free transfer on to an alternative routing.”

She said the Fifers chose a rerouting and were taken by coach to Charleroi where they were due to fly home from on December 11.

“However, this flight was subsequently and regrettably cancelled due to the snow at Charleroi.”

She added that due to a number of cancellations that day, hotel accommodation which had been authorised was not available to all.

All affected customers were advised of their options ... RYANAIR SPOKESWOMAN