the goan I network
PANAJI
A 5-minute delay was all it took to turn an expensive £2,000 holiday into a traumatic experience for an elderly British couple, after they were sent back to the UK on the same 10-hour flight they had arrived after authorities at Dabolim airport found out that their visas had expired five minutes prior to their entry into the airport.
The incident, which had taken place in March, had left the couple, Ned Beercroft and his partner Margaret Wilson, both 77, ill for weeks following the 20-hour ordeal, stated a report in The Sun.
According to The Sun report, the incident took place when the couple from Broadstairs in Kent took off from Gatwick airport on March 21 at 9.15 am and on account of the time difference, arrived at Dabolim airport on March 22 at 0.05 am.
Besides the all-inclusive package worth about £2,000 at a hotel along Bardez’s coast, the couple were also reported to have spent £120 on the two visas and £60 on vaccines.
Their visas were valid for 60 days, but because their entry date was technically different, authorities at Dabolim airport refused to allow the couple entry into the country and they were sent back on the same 10-hour long flight to Gatwick.
Recounting their ordeal to The Sun, Ned said they had wanted to go to India for ages, but they were certainly not going back now.
“You just can’t argue with these people. We’re lucky the plane hadn’t left, otherwise they told us we’d have to spend the night in a cell. We were totally exhausted by the whole thing, to arrive only to be turned back. It left us both really sick.”
“It’s not good for anyone to be on a plane for that long, let alone when you get to our age. Why they had to send us home for the sake of five minutes on a piece of paper is beyond us. Why would we want to stay there for? We’re pensioners, we have a nice home here and a pension scheme. We’re not exactly likely to be trying to emigrate illegally,” Ned was quoted in The Sun.
“All that money is gone, there’s no way to get it back. We’ve tried writing to the Indian embassy but they must have just ignored it.”
“The whole thing was a complete nightmare, how can they treat people like this,” Ned told The Sun.
Incidentally, the couple, who are both dyslexic and had got a friend to fill out the visa details online for them, said they were left ill for weeks following the 20-hour ordeal.
They claimed to have written to the Indian embassy, but said they had heard nothing back.
