A VIDEO shows 90 British holidaymakers stage a revolt after they were delayed for hours and then forced to drag their cases a mile and a half during a storm.
The exhausted travellers were dropped off a the wrong place, at which point it was discovered the coach had left with a sleeping child on board.
When the seven-year-old was returned an hour later, the TUI customers, including elderly and disabled travellers as well as mums with prams, had to trudge through the soaked streets of Agadir, Morocco.
They finally arrived at 4.10am to find most rooms were not available, there was nothing to eat or drink, and that bedding was not ready in some of the rooms that were free.
One traveller had an asthma attack climbing the stairs and an ambulance was called.
At an angry showdown with a TUI rep the following morning, the “leader” of the tourists can be seen on the video demanding that they are treated like “human beings”, prompting a massive round of applause.
The group had been due to leave Morocco on October 25 to return to Manchester Airport. But serious technical problems with the 11.20pm flight meant they were sent back to Agadir at 1.40am, arriving at 3.40.
But the coach driver dropped the passengers a mile and a half from their emergency hotel accommodation, leaving before mistake was realised and taking with him a sleeping child who was returned an hour later.
Passenger Phil Harrison, 40, from Adlington, Lancashire, recorded the scenes as the tourists tramped through Agadir in a rain storm looking for their accommodation.
The clip starts with the sound of thunder and lightning and cuts to Phil saying: “Still walking down the same road. Still not a bleeding rep greeted by anybody. Absolutely disgusting.”
The camera then pans around to show tired children dragging suitcases with some mothers carrying their children and a angry tourist shouts while dragging her suitcase: “Women with children. They’re lucky to save this.”
Phil, who emerged as the leader of the group, then goes back to narrating the clip saying “women with children pulling cases. Absolutely disgusting. Tui you are out of order.”
The clip then cuts to tourists arriving at the hotel at about 4.30am. tired, soaking and struggling to pull their luggage up the steps. The person filming the clip can be heard panting heavily.
The video cuts to the following morning and Phil is filmed addressing a TUI rep, detailing their numerous complaints.
To defeaning applause and clapping from the dozens of weary travellers, he passionately concludes: “From every colour, including race, it doesnt matter, we are all human beings here and we all deserve an explanation!”
The group finally returned to Manchester at 11pm on October 26, a delay admitted by TUI of 19 hours and 20 minutes.
Zuzana Mestour-Tenkova, 36, from Manchester, said today: “My seven year old son was left behind asleep in the coach in that big chaos, due to misunderstanding between me and my husband.
“It was a terrible experience. I still feel sick just thinking about it. We are so disappointed with the way TUI handled this whole situation. It’s just disgusting.”
Michele Cutts, 54, from Sheffield, said: “We were traumatised, frantic with worry and let down by TUI. Our families could not get any information on our flight, nothing was announced, it caused unnecessary, in some cases; necessary worry on their part.”
And Esther Mashana,26, from Birmingham, said: “I thought it disgusting how we were all denied our basic human rights like water and food.
“I remember in the morning I was thirsty. I asked for water at the reception and was told to go to the shops to buy water.
“Absolutely appalling. I think it’s safe to say I won’t be using TUI again. Neither will I recommend them to anyone.”
Zuzana Mestour-Tenkova, 36, from Manchester, said today (Wed): “The coach then drove away with our son, Ayoub, seven, in it and only came back after more than an hour – the driver was already in a depot and found our child on the coach by chance.
“In the meanwhile, the hotel receptionist lied to me that he kept phoning the coach driver to bring the boy back – the driver later told my husband nobody called him at all.
Her husband, Baghdad Mestour, 46, waited in the rain for the coach to return with their Ayoub.
She added: “I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if the coach driver didn’t notice our son and went home.
“It was a terrible experience. I still feel sick just thinking about it.
“When we finally arrived to our apartment at 5.30am. We found bedding for just two people, not a single towel, no soap, filthy floor and cockroaches.
“Not even a bottle to drink. My children were thirsty. I didn’t have any dry clothes to give them as the luggage with their clothes where wet all through.”
The group are seeking compensation for the 19 hour delay they had to endure and have been told by the company to go through their own insurance, which could incur paying fees excess of up to £150.
A spokeswoman for TUI UK said: “We’re sorry to hear about these customers’ experience. We’ll be looking in to the matter as a priority and will follow up appropriately.”
ENDS
