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Saturday, 23 December 2006, 13:06 GMT

Fog-hit family drives to Sweden

The Olszowskis in Sweden A family whose flight from Heathrow Airport to Sweden was cancelled because of fog ended up driving across seven countries to get there.

The Olszowskis, from Sevenoaks in Kent, were due to fly to Stockholm early on Friday, but British Airways (BA) informed them the flight was off.

Patrick Olszowski, 29, said the replacement they were offered would have arrived too late.

BA said it was doing its utmost to ease the flight problems at Heathrow.

The Olszowskis wanted to arrive in time for Christmas Eve, a key part of the festive season in Sweden.

"We have been through seven countries in the past 24 hours"
Patrick Olszowski

Map of the route to Sweden

The mother, father, two sons, daughter and prospective son-in-law drove to Dover to catch a ferry to Calais at 1015 GMT.

"The only thing to do was to drive," said Mr Olszowski, whose mother is Swedish.

"We got one of the last slots on the Dover to Calais ferry and we have been through seven countries in the past 24 hours."

Their journey has taken them from the UK, through France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark, into Sweden.

They travelled in two cars and took turns to drive in four-hour shifts.

A British Airways spokesman said: "We absolutely sympathise with them, it's obviously very unfortunate that they've had that experience.

"We are doing our best to accommodate everybody and to get things sorted out at this end [at Heathrow]."



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Related to this story:
BA resumes UK flights at Heathrow (23 Dec 06 |  UK )
Hopes for end to fog travel chaos (23 Dec 06 |  UK )
Travel disruption at-a-glance (23 Dec 06 |  UK )
Little festive cheer at Heathrow (22 Dec 06 |  UK )
Q&A: Air passenger rights (21 Dec 06 |  Business )
Affected by travel chaos? (21 Dec 06 |  Have Your Say )

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