A ‘relieved’ Burnham-On-Sea couple who have been stranded overseas after their holiday turned into a nightmare due to the Coronavirus outbreak have received good news.
Alan and Viv Heal have been stuck in Costa Teguise on the Spanish island of Lanzarote where they have been on holiday with friends for several days.
Talking to Burnham-On-Sea.com, Alan says: “We have all managed to get booked onto a Jet2 rescue flight on Saturday so we are feeling a lot of relief.”
”We have had lots of support and help from friends and family back in Burnham following the story – we thank them all.”
It comes after we ran a story on the couple’s plight. Alan said: “Everything is in complete lockdown. Here in Costa Teguise every shop, bar and restaurant is closed and we are only allowed to go to a supermarket, a pharmacist or a doctor. We are not allowed to go together, just one at a time.”
“There are government vehicles patrolling the streets with tannoys warning that if we are caught it will be a 2,000 Euro fine. We are fed up now.”
He adds: “The hotel is closing on Friday but we are not due to fly back until Monday – and that flight was cancelled.”
“Before we set off last week, I checked the FCO and Ryanair websites right up until a few hours before our flight and there was no warning regarding a lockdown and the flight was allowed to go ahead.”
“The first we knew was when we arrived at the hotel. If we had cancelled our holiday before leaving we would have lost a substantial amount of money but, having gone ahead, we are hoping to get a refund.”
“The most frustrating thing is the lack of communication from Ryanair, not an email, SMS or anything and, according to their Twitter feed, all flights are cancelled from Friday.”
“We did an online check in before we left the UK but when we checked this week, Ryanair have cancelled our check in. We are not sure what is going to happen now.”
“There are no facilities available for us to use in the hotel – the swimming pool, gym and sauna are all closed.”
“The restaurant is still serving meals but as we are on B&B we are having to pay extra for evening meals.”
“We were told yesterday that the restaurant will also close on Friday. My brother and some friends, also from Burnham, are staying in an apartment just a few minutes walk from us and they have a microwave, a cooker and a toaster but nothing else.”
“Our plan was to meet up for the week but we are only able to WhatsApp call each other so far. Their flight is on Sunday, also with Ryanair, and they too have had no communication. We have all been trying to contact Ryanair but each time we are put on hold for over 30 minutes before being cut off.”
“On a positive note, our hotel are being very supportive and doing their best for us but they are quite rightly worried about their jobs.”
“When we arrived on Sunday the hotel was busy but now there is not a soul in sight and it’s practically empty.”
Alan adds: “The good news is that we are both feeling well with no symptoms of Coronavirus.”
