A FORMER Dudley mayor and mayoress were among a plane full of passengers left stranded and frustrated for 16 hours at a Greek airport after bad weather hit – resulting in a series of delays.
Former Dudley borough councillor Steve Waltho and his wife Jayne were set to fly back to Birmingham from Corfu after enjoying a cruise with friends before cancer survivor Steve begins further treatment for a recurrence of the disease.
Their return flight, however, was unable to take off as planned at 9.30pm on Friday (October 4) due to what Steve described as “dangerous stormy weather”.
“It’s understandable there were delays,” he told the News but the hours and hours with no help that followed left him fuming.
The usually congenial community champion and charity fundraiser said weary travellers were completely let down by holiday giant TUI and left without even a bottle of water for many hours.
Taking to Facebook to voice his frustration, he said: “Anyone who knows me will know that I rarely get angry and so often praise the good in people but I’m not afraid to challenge either individuals or organisations when appropriate.”
He said the trip he’d enjoyed seeing the sights of Corfu, Montenegro, Italy, Sicily and Malta with his wife and friends John and Wendy Penlington was “sadly tarnished by the corporate giant literally abandoning a plane load of decent paying customers in Corfu”.
Steve, aged 69, who had to begin a six-week course of radiotherapy treatment due to a recurrence of prostate cancer on Monday (October 7), added: “The way we were treated was abysmal.”
He said not only was the flight delayed due to the weather but also because the pilot had notched up the maximum number of flying hours with no-one else available to step in.
Steve said: “We were led to believe the flight was simply delayed by nearly three hours.
“We were then called and passed through the departure gate twice and were called back twice for operational difficulties.
“With no TUI rep around we then learnt the truth that the pilot had overrun his hours and there was no contingency plan with the plane loaded with luggage just 200 metres away.
“They told us they had tried to find hotels but none were available so could we try to make our own arrangements at nearly 2am!”
Steve told how there “was nearly a riot” as tempers frayed and he added: “I rang TUI’s main customer services number since a rep at that point couldn’t be found. They were no use at all but sent me an email asking about their quality of service!
"Meanwhile nearly 300 exhausted passengers bound for Birmingham were simply left in the airport including several in wheelchairs.
"A wonderfully impersonal email was then sent stating a flight should be available at 2.10pm on Saturday October 5."
He said by the time the plane eventually took off passengers had been left languishing at the airport for nearly 20 hours and he criticised TUI for providing an “utterly appalling service”
In his post on social media he added: “That’s a day’s life virtually lost for nearly 300 good people thanks to TUI!”
Steve and his fellow holidaymakers eventually arrived back in Birmingham on Saturday afternoon, with just over a day to spare before beginning his radiotherapy treatment.
He said he has since received an email offering money off future TUI flights and compensation of around £100 each “as a token gesture for the inconvenience” but he said given the failings he “will definitely have second thoughts about TUI in future”.
TUI has been contacted for comment.
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