Pam Tweedale, 77, flew to Madrid for a trip of a lifetime with family, but after landing with a missing passport and being detained for 22 hours, she was forced to fly back home to the UK
A British nan says she was locked in a cell for 22 hours then forced to abandon a dream holiday to Spain after losing her passport on the plane.
Pam Tweedale landed in Madrid for what was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime with 13 family members, but after landing with a missing passport and being detained for almost a day, the 77-year-old was forced to fly back to the UK. Her daughter Sharon Mann, 56, believes Pam’s passport slipped out of her bag after she put it under the seat during the Iberia Airlines flight from London Gatwick Airport to Madrid-Barajas on August 16. Minutes into the journey, retired cashier Pam realised it was missing and went to Iberia’s help desk – but the passport could not be located. The family were then sent to airport police, where Pam and Sharon claim they were detained. Sharon says the pair were held overnight in a cell before having to head back to the UK.
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“We know she had her passport when we got on the plane because they checked it seconds before,” Sharon’s partner Emily Mann, 48, of Portsmouth, said. “We chucked our bags under the seats because the overhead lockers were full and when we got off the plane, we walked for a minute, stopped at the toilet and her passport wasn’t in her bag. It must have been on the plane. We panicked straight away.
“At the Iberia help desk, they said to wait and that they’d phone the plane but eventually they said it hadn’t been found so they sent us to see the guard. In hindsight, we should have gone back, got on the plane and looked for it ourselves and it would have been a different story.”
She claims: “The guard told me and Sharon to go and leave Pam but we said no way. They were so rude. It took so long that we got a 160 euro fine for being late to the transfer so I left and Sharon stayed.”
Sharon added: “Eventually an officer came and took us to an office. Because it was Saturday and the embassy shut on Sunday, they would send someone on Monday to do paperwork. She’d get her passport on Wednesday and mum would be lucky enough to enjoy the last few days of her holiday on Wednesday.”
She claimed: “She would have been detained until then. I told them it’s a joke. I was fuming, mum was terrified and I was getting angrier by the minute because she was getting more distressed. They tipped everything out of our bags and dumped everything into a black sack. They took our phones and my passport. They gave two numbers that our family could contact us on.”
She alleged: “We were put in a cell with about 12 people who didn’t speak English including men and they switched the lights off at 10:30pm. It was like an old fashioned prison with metal bunk beds. I didn’t know if I was in there with murderers. It was freezing and we just had a flimsy sheet.”
Return flights set the family back £500 each, but Sharon paid a further £200 for a flight back to Spain to join the rest of the family and an additional £300 to return with them the following week. She says Pam, who recently had gallbladder surgery and suffers from asthma, was denied access to her medication – and went without food and water until she returned to London Heathrow at 1:25pm the next day.
Sharon alleged: “We signed some forms that were in Spanish and we didn’t know what they said. We were advised not to complain so it didn’t delay our return. They gave us our stuff in a black bag once we’d landed. We were put in a police car and escorted to the plane like criminals. Mum had a funny turn on the plane. She’d not had any food or water and didn’t have her medication.”
The holiday had been organised by her children and grandchildren to lift her spirits after the death of her husband, Allan, last year. Emily added: “Pam’s traumatised. She’s been really confused, emotional, panicky, depressed, and doesn’t want to go out. We really wanted to give Pam a holiday to remember. We wanted to spend time with her and make memories for a week.
“Pam was utterly excited. She’s been suffering with her health. It didn’t matter if we couldn’t afford it, we made it work because we wanted the memories. Allan would have looked after her so we felt that we’d let her down and Pam felt like it was her fault. It makes us emotional thinking about it.”
The Mirror has contacted Iberia Airlines and the Spanish authorities for comment.