A total of 158 flights have been arranged to carry 37,150 travellers back to the UK from 38 destinations
LONDON, England (Independent Television News), September 17, 2008:
A woman dying from cancer who faced threats of arrest over an Egyptian hotel bill after the collapse of travel firm XL is back in the UK.
Cherry Dodgson, 49, from Wells, Somerset, is in the final stages of lung cancer and had cashed in her life-savings for the holiday with eight of her family and friends.
However, after XL went bust last Friday, Mrs Dodgson she was told by the manager of the hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that she would have to pay an extra £1,400 or face arrest if she tried to leave.
The 49-year-old had spent £7,000 on the XL trip and a further £2,000 on a honeymoon planned for later this month to the same hotel for her daughter Shani Winfield, her partner Clayton Walker and their three children.
Mrs Dodgson - who has had five rounds of chemotherapy and is due to have radiotherapy to stop the cancer spreading to her brain - was unsure how she would get home and was forced to scrape together the extra money following the hotel's demands.
The Civil Aviation Authority has now said that it will ensure that Mrs Dodgson and her party get a full refund and that the hotel will be paid by the company's administrators.
The organisation reminds passengers that if they are on Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol)-protected trips, they do not need to pay hotel bills at the end of their stay.
Mrs Dodgson's return comes as the CAA said it had completed the first phase of its operation to repatriate holidaymakers left stranded by the collapse.
A total of 158 flights have been arranged to carry 37,150 travellers back to the UK from 38 destinations.
© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved
September 17, 2008
U.K.: Dying-from-cancer customer of collapsed travel firm XL reaches home
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A total of 158 flights have been arranged to carry 37,150 travellers back to the UK from 38 destinations
LONDON, England (Independent Television News), September 17, 2008:
A woman dying from cancer who faced threats of arrest over an Egyptian hotel bill after the collapse of travel firm XL is back in the UK.
Cherry Dodgson, 49, from Wells, Somerset, is in the final stages of lung cancer and had cashed in her life-savings for the holiday with eight of her family and friends.
However, after XL went bust last Friday, Mrs Dodgson she was told by the manager of the hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that she would have to pay an extra £1,400 or face arrest if she tried to leave.
The 49-year-old had spent £7,000 on the XL trip and a further £2,000 on a honeymoon planned for later this month to the same hotel for her daughter Shani Winfield, her partner Clayton Walker and their three children.
Mrs Dodgson - who has had five rounds of chemotherapy and is due to have radiotherapy to stop the cancer spreading to her brain - was unsure how she would get home and was forced to scrape together the extra money following the hotel's demands.
The Civil Aviation Authority has now said that it will ensure that Mrs Dodgson and her party get a full refund and that the hotel will be paid by the company's administrators.
The organisation reminds passengers that if they are on Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol)-protected trips, they do not need to pay hotel bills at the end of their stay.
Mrs Dodgson's return comes as the CAA said it had completed the first phase of its operation to repatriate holidaymakers left stranded by the collapse.
A total of 158 flights have been arranged to carry 37,150 travellers back to the UK from 38 destinations.
© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved
A total of 158 flights have been arranged to carry 37,150 travellers back to the UK from 38 destinations
LONDON, England (Independent Television News), September 17, 2008:
A woman dying from cancer who faced threats of arrest over an Egyptian hotel bill after the collapse of travel firm XL is back in the UK.
Cherry Dodgson, 49, from Wells, Somerset, is in the final stages of lung cancer and had cashed in her life-savings for the holiday with eight of her family and friends.
However, after XL went bust last Friday, Mrs Dodgson she was told by the manager of the hotel in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh that she would have to pay an extra £1,400 or face arrest if she tried to leave.
The 49-year-old had spent £7,000 on the XL trip and a further £2,000 on a honeymoon planned for later this month to the same hotel for her daughter Shani Winfield, her partner Clayton Walker and their three children.
Mrs Dodgson - who has had five rounds of chemotherapy and is due to have radiotherapy to stop the cancer spreading to her brain - was unsure how she would get home and was forced to scrape together the extra money following the hotel's demands.
The Civil Aviation Authority has now said that it will ensure that Mrs Dodgson and her party get a full refund and that the hotel will be paid by the company's administrators.
The organisation reminds passengers that if they are on Air Travel Organisers' Licensing (Atol)-protected trips, they do not need to pay hotel bills at the end of their stay.
Mrs Dodgson's return comes as the CAA said it had completed the first phase of its operation to repatriate holidaymakers left stranded by the collapse.
A total of 158 flights have been arranged to carry 37,150 travellers back to the UK from 38 destinations.
© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved
