Fallout from ash cloud as volcano rumbles again

Carolyn Turner, democratic services officer at Rother District Council, was stuck in Tenerife for a week longer than anticipated after Viking Airlines cancelled her flight home on April 9.

As airports in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic shut down on Wednesday after ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano drifted over the northern part of the British isles, Carolyn, of Mitten Road, said the extra time was no holiday in the sun.

Instead, together with her husband and daughter, she faced a costly race for information, fraught by concern for her 93-year-old father, waiting be moved from Bexhill Hospital's Irvine Unit.

Bills for accomodation and food were all met by the family, who say they were told next to nothing from day to day.

"It was the not knowing, not knowing what was going on," said Carolyn. "We had to book a car on a daily basis and went around the airport and hotel each day.

"Everyone thinks you have a nice extra time in the sun but we didn't relax again until the following Thursday, when we knew the airspace was opening.

"We were just holding on for our journey home."

Daughter Joanne was put on the first flight home by Thomas Cook after airspace re-opened on April 21, but Martin and Carolyn say they were "terribly let down" by Viking Airlines.

The couple faced an uphill struggle to arrange their accomodation in city crowded with tourists.

Carolyn said: "I cannot believe it happened. Last week was so quiet, no-one mentioned it.

"But it's made me feel like I don't want to go on an aeroplane for a very long time."

The Turners are expecting friends to fly back from Rome today (Friday).

But with the UK Civil Aviation Authority warning the ash cloud is drifting south, and possible airport closures forecast in Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester, it could be groundhog day for UK flights.

Viking Airlines did not respond to a request for comment about Carolyn's experience.