A GRIEVING daughter has spoken of her distress after facing a battle to claim a refund for cancelled flights to visit her elderly father - who died alone weeks later.
Newport grandmother Pauline O’Driscoll, 54, was due to travel from the UK to see 91-year-old Compton Salmon in Jamaica before the coronavirus crisis took hold.
She and her brother and sister were due to visit the widower in mid-March but their TUI flights were cancelled the day before they were due to travel because of Covid-19.
Pauline O’Driscoll, left, with her father Compton and sister Angela
It meant they didn’t get a chance to say goodbye as their dad died of asbestosis later that month.
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Mrs O’Driscoll, an insurance clerk from Rogerstone, says the pain of losing her father has been made all the more traumatic by the fact that she still hasn’t received the £1,275 she spent on the tickets.
She is distraught that she can’t plan her journey to the Caribbean to retrieve her father’s ashes and bring them back to Britain.
Mrs O’Driscoll said: “I booked the flights on March 13 for £1,275 for myself, my sister Angela and brother Joseph to go to Jamaica on March 15 as our father was ill.
“TUI sent me an email notifying me that they had cancelled the flights the day before on March 14 and said they would refund my money within three to four days.
“I urgently need the refund to rebook another flight but they have failed to refund it. It is now May and they still haven’t given us back our money.
“On March 29 our father died all alone in Jamaica. Losing our dad was devastating and the way TUI have behaved is utterly horrendous.
“I have called them and emailed them copious times. I have sent them messages on Twitter. I have even contacted their chief executive. All to no avail.
“My father’s gone now and no amount of money is going to compensate that. We just want to bring him back from Jamaica.”
Mr Salmon, a British citizen, was one of the Windrush generation who settled in Southampton after arriving in the UK from the Caribbean with his wife Icilda in the 1950s.
He worked as a carpenter before the couple decided to return to Jamaica when they retired. Mrs Salmon died eight years ago.
Their children still live in Britain with Mrs O’Driscoll having settled in Newport nearly 30 years ago.
Her brother lives nearby and her sister remains in Southampton.
Mr Salmon with his son Joseph
Mrs O’Driscoll said: “He was a very outgoing, family man. He was a loving husband, father and grandad with a keen love for playing dominoes.
“I find it very cruel. It’s just the injustice of having to keep on asking TUI for our refund. It’s just incredible.
“There are so many more people out there who are going through the same thing as us.”
A TUI spokesperson said: “I’ve spoken to our customer service team who have confirmed that the booking has been cancelled and is pending a refund.
“This has been escalated and the customer will receive their refund shortly.”
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