Family’s anguish after hotel in Turkey ‘banned’ mum’s mobility scooter
A family were left distraught after claiming their hotel in Turkey said they could not use a mobility scooter while staying there. Staff offered a wheelchair for Heather Hughes but her husband Geraint would have been unable to push his wife in it and also care for their visually-impaired daughter.
The family, from Morfa Nefyn, are on a week-long holiday with their son Luke, 16, and daughter Evie, 12, who has a brain tumour and has lost her sight in one eye. The family faced cutting short their nightmare trip and returning home early, before holiday firm Jet2 last night apologised and confirmed they had relocated them to another hotel.
The Hughes family said they alerted Jet2 about their requirements in advance and duly flew to southern Turkey this week. They arrived at the hotel, in Marmaris, on Tuesday.
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Speaking before their relocation, Mrs Hughes said she was told she couldn’t use her mobility scooter, which was flown out specially with them. Mrs Hughes, 38, who has fibromyalgia, told North Wales Live from Turkey: “Jet2 knew the mobility scooter’s make, model, dimensions and weight to get it onto their own aircraft.
“Now we have been told it is forbidden to use it on hotel premises. Jet2 said they couldn’t do anything about it.”
Mrs Hughes said her husband has had a prolapsed disc in his back and her daughter has sight problems. Indeed, she fell at school several weeks ago, breaking her leg and has only just recovered.
Mrs Hughes said her family could have moved themselves to another hotel with better access but it would have cost an additional £1,000 as they have already paid for their stay. She added: “It is all inclusive so I haven’t brought much spending money.”
She claimed there were no signs banning mobility scooters around her hotel grounds. Mrs Hughes said: “There’s nothing to say mobility scooters are forbidden. I have been to Turkey many, many times since being a child.
“But we feel we have been abandoned in a strange country and no-one else has helped us.” She expressed worry that they may have had to return home early.
Mrs Hughes’ mother Sharon Parry, back home in Nefyn, was left angry by the situation. She said: “I got a distressed call from my daughter, crying buckets. She said ‘You’ll never guess, someone from management has told me I can’t use the scooter in the hotel.’
“I said ‘You’re joking?’ and she said ‘Would I joke about something like that, Mam?'” Mrs Parry added: “I can’t over emphasise how upset they all are.”
Brave Evie has been battling health issues for six years. In 2017 a teacher had noticed something was wrong with Evie’s eyesight and Heather and Geraint took her to the optician.
To their horror they were told Evie needed hospital treatment and doctors later found the issue was the result of a brain tumour. It left her blind in one eye and the sight in her other eye is deteriorating.
She was rushed to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool where she underwent emergency surgery. In 2018 Evie had flown to Florida for weeks of intensive pioneering treatment.
After North Wales Live contacted Jet2 about the Hughes’ plight yesterday the company apologised and issued an update. A Jet2 spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have been in touch with Mr and Mrs Hughes and moved them to an alternative hotel. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
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