GREEK TRAGEDY

SPECIAL TRIP COUPLE HAD PLANNED FOR 4 YEARS DESTROYED BY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL DISASTER

- NEAL KEELING

THEY were due to renew their wedding vows outside a beautiful Greek church next to a lemon grove.

Twenty years after getting married Joanne and Danny Oultram planned to pledge their love again.

Twenty-five guests were heading for the island of Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea to help them celebrate in the tiny village of Alykanas. The couple had been planning the day for four years. But as they queued to board Jet2 flight LS977 flying at 3.05pm from Manchester Airport on Bank Holiday Monday their dream holiday was shattered.

“We got a message from Jet2 with whom we had booked flights and a package holiday. It said ‘your holiday is cancelled’,” Joanne said.

She added: “We were all waiting at gate 20b, we had been sitting there for around 40-plus minutes when people’s phones started pinging with emails from Jet2 stating that the holiday had been cancelled and refunds would be issued within seven days. People were angry, crying, shouting. I was completely numb, too numb to cry until I got home, after waiting for 45 minutes for our car from the drop and go.