Couple's five-day airport nightmare

A couple today spoke of their five-day nightmare after getting caught up in chaotic protests in Thailand which have closed the country's two main airports.

Dental practice manager Vanessa Wilding, aged 26, and her market trader boyfriend Tim Brookes, 25, said they spent more than £1,500 of their own money on getting home.

Speaking at her parents' home in Reedham Gardens, Penn, Wolverhampton, Vanessa, said: "It was five days of hell. I feel for the people who are still stuck there. We were lucky we had some money left to pay for our flights out of there."

She and Tim, of Windmill Crescent, Castlecroft, arrived at Phuket Airport last Tuesday for their flight to Heathrow at the end of a two-week holiday when they were told their flight had been cancelled. They were forced to sleep at the airport until the next flight out the following morning but instead of boarding a plane, they were warned over the public address system to get out of the building.

"There was a riot, everyone pushing and shoving to get out, and still no one told us what was happening," said Vanessa.

Airline staff told the passengers that coaches would take them to hotels in Bangkok but after queuing in oppressive heat, the couple took a taxi.

"Thai Airways said they would only pay the bills of those people who had already checked in for their flights when the trouble broke out. Fortunately, that included us but their goodwill disappeared after a couple more days," she said.

After a tip-off, the pair took a taxi to a military air base where they were told some flights were getting out but it would cost them £3,000 each. "We couldn't afford it and had to stay in the most disgusting hotel," she said. Eventually, the couple got on an 11-hour flight to Frankfurt in Germany at 6am on Sunday and arrived home yesterday via Heathrow.