Father's fury at costs of holiday destination switch following Egypt terror attack
A father of two from Cannock due to take his family on a £3,000 holiday to the Egyptian resort targeted last Friday by terrorists is angry after being told he cannot change the booking without a financial penalty.
Justin Hawthorne, aged 39, had organised a two-week break at the Red Sea resort of Hurghada which was at the centre of the latest attack by Islamic State terrorists.
Three foreign tourists were stabbed by two suspected IS militants who stormed a hotel, armed with knives, and were shot by police.
One assailant was killed and the other injured. Reports say they raised the IS flag and were aiming to kidnap tourists. The resort was put on high alert with all roads in and out closed off.
Mr Hawthorne, who runs his own catering business, said he does not want to risk taking his wife Beci and their two daughters, aged 11 and seven, since news of the attack emerged.
But he has been told he will have to pay a penalty of £280 to switch destinations, plus the difference in price if the flights are more expensive.
The holiday was organised before the loss in October of a Russian plane, believed to have been brought down by in bomb in the hold, leading the UK and other countries to halt flights to Sharm el-Sheikh, also on the Red Sea, citing security fears.
Mr Hawthorne, of Sweetbriar Way, Heath Hayes, said: "It's a very difficult situation. The incident on Friday wasn't as bad as it initially sounded but it's still bad enough. If it was just me, or me and my wife, maybe we might risk it but you can't take a chance on your children's lives.
"I booked the holiday in the summer after a nightmare camping holiday in England. We'd been to Hurghada the year before and and loved it, so we decided to go back and treat ourselves to some some guaranteed sunshine."
Despite the rise in IS-related militancy in Egypt, he said they had been looking forward to their well-earned break.
"When the plane went down just before Christmas, I was thinking maybe Egypt hadn't been a great idea," he said. "We had friends who had been going to Sharm el-Sheikh but the Government stopped flights there, so the decision was taken out of their hands.
"With this attack on Friday, our holiday company, Travel Republic, is saying their hands are tied because the government is not warning people not to go there.
"We're not asking for a refund, we just want to change destinations, but we're being told we have to pay £70 per person to do so, which seems unfair.
"By having to change the holiday to a later date, it puts the price up again, and the whole cost starts to spiral out of control."
He said he and wife Beci, who works for Tesco, talk about the problem nightly.
"We've got a bit of time to play with but we'll have to make a decision soon." he said.
