A dad taking his children on their first holiday since their mum died "will never forget the look on their faces" after he had an epileptic fit at the airport.
Nicholas 'Nicky' Nolan told the ECHO he took his four children to Turkey on holiday because "it was his wife Amy's wish" for all the family to go together before she died of cancer last year. But Nicky, from Kirkby, claimed the family's special trip turned into a "holiday from hell" because of a number of incidents including a stress-induced epileptic fit.
Nicky said he is now out of pocket by thousands of pounds and his children do not ever want to go on holiday again. Travel company On the Beach has apologised and said they "will be in touch with him soon".
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Nicky said the issues started when the family were due to fly from Manchester Airport to Antalya, Turkey, on August 29 but were caught up in the air traffic control failure issues. He said after he returned home "with four heartbroken children", he spent hours on hold with On the Beach trying to determine when their flight had been rescheduled to. He was eventually informed the flight was in just four hours resulting in a scramble to get to Manchester from the family's Kirkby home.
Nicky said he received "no email, no notification, no booking reference" and when the family arrived at the airport were told they were not due on the flight. By "a sheer stroke of luck" the family managed to board the plane and went on holiday along with Nicky's brother and sister and their own families.
But the issues persisted when it came to the family's plans to return home. Nicky said a representative at the hotel told him the family were on a different flight than what they originally thought and arranged an airport transfer for them. But when Nicky and his children arrived at the airport they were told they should have been on the earlier, and original, flight. On the Beach told the ECHO the representative was not associated with the travel company.
The family were told they could get on a later flight but tickets would cost over £4,000. Nicky told the ECHO he has epilepsy and the stress of the situation resulted in him having two seizures. Speaking to the ECHO over two weeks after the family's ordeal, the dad-of-four said: "The staff at the airport were adamant I was wrong but I was just going off the information given to me by the rep.
"It was disgusting how the fella at the airport spoke to us – there was no consideration for our situation or the fact we were just doing as we were told. We got passed from pillar to post as we tried to rearrange new flights. The fella said it would cost £4,200 for new flights – I'm a single dad with four kids, how am I going to get that?
"I got so worked up by what had happened I had a fit. I was put in the back of an ambulance and was told my children would be coming to the hospital with me. But I was carted away and they were left there without any adult supervision – I will never forget the looks on their faces."
Nicky said a kind-hearted stranger saw what had happened and let the children use their phone to call Nicky's sister who rushed to the airport, while his brother met him at the hospital. After being discharged from the hospital with a bill costing hundreds of pounds, Nicky returned back to the hotel where he had stayed.
But he added when he returned the staff did not even let him use WiFi to find a new hotel before marching him and his family out. By the time Nicky and his children landed back in Manchester the following day he had forked out an additional £4,000 once he took into account new flights, hotels and taxis.
Nicky told the ECHO since he has been back home he has repeatedly tried to contact On the Beach about the holiday but has "been constantly ignored". He added: "I have tried to repeatedly contact them but have heard nothing back from them.
"I still don't feel very well to be honest after my seizure. I'm still struggling and have tremors but I'm more worried about how the kids are.
"They were traumatised by what happened. Seeing me have seizures just a year after their mum died must have been horrendous for them. This was meant to be a special holiday for us."
A spokesperson for On the Beach told the ECHO: "We’re sorry that Mr Noon’s holiday was disrupted by the air traffic control issues, someone from our customer care team will contact him as soon as possible."
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