Families stranded for 50 hours in Tenerife

Families that were stranded abroad for more than 50 hours because of a fault with their aeroplane today spoke of their ordeal, as they finally touched down on home soil.

Around 150 passengers, including families from Staffordshire and the Black Country, arrived back at Birmingham Airport at 2.30am today after spending more than two days stuck in Tenerife.

They had been due to fly home on Saturday night but the Monarch airline crew discovered a problem with the door hatch just before the flight was scheduled to leave.

The passengers were put up in a hotel in Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz while engineers worked to fix the fault with the aircraft which was being operated on behalf of Monarch by Air Aurel.

But passengers today said they were "kept in the dark" about any plans to return them home and that they were not given any information about how long they would be stuck in Tenerife before they could go home.

A replacement plane was flown out yesterday evening to return the waiting travellers to the UK.

Monarch has today apologised for the inconvenience caused and given each passenger £100 in compensation and a £100 flight voucher.

Among those hit by the delay were Esther and Gary Rowley, from Halesowen, who holiday in Tenerife every year.

Mrs Rowley, a 42-year-old payroll coordinator, said the passengers had been told there was a delay to Saturday's 8.30pm ZB933 flight once they were on board.

"About 45 minutes went by and everybody was getting restless. It was so hot on the plane and we asked if we could get off," she said.

"It then became a waiting game. We were taken to the hotel at about 2am and then we just had to wait. No one told us what was happening until yesterday evening," she said.

Mrs Rowley said the couple would not be flying with Monarch again and would be making an official complaint. Her friend Marilyn Baker, 58, from West Bromwich, said:

"Everybody had become quite close. We all pulled together to give each other comfort."

Dennis Law, 41, of Cannock, added: "It's not the best way to end a holiday."

Also stuck in Tenerife were Ian Baynham, 46, and his 15-year-old son Sam, who live in Wombourne, South Staffordshire.

They had enjoyed a week at a four star all-inclusive hotel before their flight home was delayed. Mr Baynham, who works as a freight forwarder, said: "The worst thing was not being able to relax because we didn't know how long it would be before we were leaving. If we had known it would be two days we could have done more with our time instead of just waiting around."

A statement issued by Monarch said: "Monarch apologise to all passengers for any upset and inconvenience caused.

"As a gesture of goodwill all passengers will received a £100 cheque as well as a £100 flight voucher."