Stranded in Thailand and “abandoned” by the British government

PALMA
JOHN Connor, who has lived here in Majorca for the past 20 years, was not one of the hundreds of European tourists flown out of crisis-hit Thailand yesterday and laid part of the blame at the feet of the British government.

Connor, who now owns a sports shop in Cala Bona where he lives with his wife and son, was due to have flown home to Majorca, via Heathrow, from Phuket yesterday but he has been left stranded by anti-government protests and the closure of Bangkok'a airport and “left abandoned by the British government.” Connor, speaking by telephone to the Bulletin from the holiday home he owns in the popular Thai resort, said that while the tension and protests have not spilled over in to Phuket from Bangkok, there were about 1'000 European holiday makers in the area.

Yesterday he said that he was aware that a large number of empty planes had been allowed to finally take off from one of the capital Bangkok's main airports to fly to regional airports to start airlifting people out of the country but he complained that he had no idea what was happening to British citizens. “Unlike the Spanish, Australian or French governments which have sent military planes and the national carriers have sent extra aircraft in to help get their people home, the British government has not done anything.