A NORTH Berwick couple stuck in Tenerife have expressed their frustration after repeated attempts to get home have been cancelled.

Eileen Carmichael, 76, and her partner Tony Gill, 77, live on the town’s Craigleith View and initially arrived in Tenerife on January 3.

They have been staying in a rented apartment which they are still staying in and paying for.

They were due to leave and travel home on March 25 but paid to get an earlier flight on March 18.

The couple, who booked their holiday with EasyJet, were then told the flight was cancelled two days before it was due to leave.

The flight was then deemed a rescue flight but the couple were not able to get on it as it was filled with people on package holidays so local hotels could close.

They have since paid for another flight home and been offered four alternatives: March 30, April 1, April 8 and April 15 – all of which have been cancelled.

Eileen said: “It’s just ruined our holiday. I feel like we’ve been pushed aside.

“Fortunately, the lady who owns the apartment is in Spain so we can stay here a bit longer. We’re still here, there’s nowhere we can go.

“I don’t know what we can do. We don’t know how long we can stay.”

She added: “We’ve paid twice for two separate flights.

“I’m not too fussed about that because I know we can get the money back but we just want to go home.

“We aren’t holding much hope for the next flight on May 1.”

Eileen, who is partially sighted, added that because there were still flights coming into Tenerife, the Foreign Office had told them there was nothing they could do.

The pair are unable to get a direct flight home and have been offered one that takes them to Madrid, Heathrow and then Edinburgh.

Eileen said: “How could we even attempt that, even if we could manage to book it?

“It doesn’t have to be a flight to Edinburgh, even Newcastle would be fine. But we can’t go any further than that because of our age.

“Being partially sighted, I would be unable to cope if anything happened to my partner Tony.

“We could be stranded here indefinitely now British airports are also closing down. I know there are people a lot worse off than us, but we just want to come home.”

The couple are speaking to friends and family regularly; their neighbour has allowed them to use her Wi-Fi which has helped them.

They have also been in touch with East Lothian MP Kenny MacAskill.

A spokesperson for EasyJet said: “Where we have been required to cancel flights as a result of travel restrictions, we have been committed to getting customers home as quickly as possible and so we have worked hard to operate a programme of over 650 rescue flights so far, bringing over 45,000 customers home since travel restrictions have been implemented. 

“A repatriation programme is currently being run by the UK Government and we remain in contact with them about any flights we are required to operate. 

“We would advise people to check they are eligible and find out how to book by visiting the ‘Return to the UK’ section of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) website for the travel advice page of the country they are in.”

A spokesperson for the FCO said: “Our consular teams are doing everything they can, especially for those in difficulty, to keep Brits informed on the latest developments and help them return – on commercial flights where they are still available or special charter flights as well.

“We’ll continue working around the clock to bring people home.”