Mum of four blasts TUI for eye-watering price of butties for wildfire evacuees

27 July 2023 , 19:06

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Katherine Brown and her family had to flee (Image: Phil Harris)

A holidaymaker forced to flee the Rhodes fires praised locals but slammed holiday firm TUI for making evacuees pay for pricey sandwiches as they were flown home. Katherine Waldemar Brown, 55, from Swansea, said: “The people of Rhodes have been feeding us for days for free. When we got on the plane they should have said: ‘People who have been evacuated, please make yourself known’.

“Instead they were selling sandwiches for £7 or £8. I spent £40 or £50. The locals – themselves devastated and desperately worried – did all they could to help. The holiday companies were totally absent.” Katherine, on holiday with her four children aged 17 to 23, was forced to abandon her suitcases as they fled. Now she has posted pictures of unlabelled luggage collected by worried locals and stored in Rhodes Town Hall. She said: “Many people don’t know it’s there which is why I’ve tried to draw attention to it.”

Family were flown home by TUI (NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The family were evacuated from the Atlantica Dreams resort in South East Rhodes on Saturday. The mum said they were given no information but the Greek villagers were “incredible” after they were evacuated and they ended up sleeping on the floor of a primary school.

“Curtains were used as blankets and this little army of Greek ladies turned up with boxes and boxes of food. It was enormous,” she said. “One lady was crying and hugged me saying; ‘We’re so sorry, we’re so sorry’. I said they had nothing to say sorry for. They’d made sandwiches, boiled eggs, pastries and bought packaged food too.” Katherine was travelling with her family including her four children, Ollie, 19, Imogen, 23, and twins James and Tara, both 17.

TUI said they will refund the mum. A TUI UK&I spokesperson said: “We understand how distressing and difficult it’s been for those who had to leave their hotels and curtail their holidays due to the wildfires in Rhodes. Our teams have worked round the clock to offer support and we brought in many additional reps to help assist as soon as the situation escalated. They’ve done their utmost in challenging and difficult situations, collaborating with the local authorities who managed the immediate evacuation. We relocated impacted customers in new hotels as soon as we could and have brought hundreds of people home. Our teams will be in touch with all impacted customer on their return.”

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