A GROUP of Hampshire holidaymakers have hit-out at tour operators after a dream break became a nightmare holiday from hell.

The party of eight who live on Litchfield Crescent, Midanbury, were all set to fly away for a fortnight break to the luxury Greek island Xanti but were pulled away as the plane was about to set off after a bungle by tour staff.

Kim Painting, 41, who was among the holidaymakers, said: "We booked a holiday to go to Greece last January.

"We booked four two-bedroom apartments, and everything was fine'. We got to the airport picked up our boarding passes and went to the departure lounge."

She added: "We sat down, they called us up and said 'Sorry you are not flying. You have cancelled your holiday, we explained to them that we didn't but they weren't having any of it. Our luggage was even on the plane which had to be held up for an hour while they took it off."

After waiting around the departure lounge at Gatwick, holiday chiefs admitted their planned holiday had been cancelled because somebody has "pressed the wrong button."

After a night in a hotel, the party of Kim, her husband Robert, 48, and two children Craig, 12, and Joanna, 15, and their family friends Susan Moorman, 49, her husband Barry, 48, their son Lee, 20, and his friend Gary Noble, 19, were offered an alternative holiday in Alicante - but only had five minutes to make up their minds.

Kim said: "We took it we all needed a holiday. My friend had just been bereaved and my husband was waiting for the results of his cancer test."

Once they arrived at the villa they discovered they were an hour-and-a-half drive from the airport, the water was poisonous, there was a ten-minute drive to the nearest shop and the area had no nightlife. The place was so miserable, Joanna flew home after only a week. For the second week, they were moved to other apartments - but because of a lack of space the two boys were separated from the rest.

Kim said: "It was a nightmare. We just didn't want this. They put us in the middle of nowhere. They have never given us anything despite the fact that we were in a completely different country on a completely different holiday."

In a statement, Lunn Poly said: "We are concerned to hear about the problems experienced by Mrs Moorman and her party during their Manos holiday last August.

"If Mrs Moorman wishes to pursue this complaint, Lunn Poly would strongly recommend that she contacts the ABTA Arbitration Scheme, which is a comparatively low-cost scheme where the case is decided by an independent arbitrator, based on the documents submitted by each party.

"Staff at Bitterne Lunn Poly Holiday Shop will be pleased to offer every support and advice to Mrs Moorman during this process."

A spokesman for Manos said: ''It's with our quality control manager, who has been investigating.''

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