A WINSFORD family has been left reeling after a dream trip to Lapland turned into a costly nightmare.

Ian and Jean Edisbury, both 67, forked out £1,600 to take take their two grandchildren on a day-trip to meet Father Christmas in Lapland.

But a flight mix-up left the Edisburys and 160 others stranded at Manchester Airport on Saturday – with police having to be called in when fury boiled over.

The couple were forced to stand in line for more than five hours with grandchildren Megan, eight, and Nathan, six after two flights were cancelled for no known reason.

Then a second flight, due to take both lots of passengers on one big plane, was cancelled when the pilot said weather conditions were too bad to land in Finland.

But Ian, who lives in The Loont, thinks tour operator Transun tried to cut costs by squeezing everyone on one flight, but it backfired because the plane was too big to tackle the extreme weather.

He said: “It’s an absolutle disgrace. We paid for this in April, it was going to be our Christmas present to our granchildren, now we don’t even know if we’ll get our money back.

“It turned into an absolute farce. There was no-one there from Transun who we booked with, or from the airline, to tell us what was going on. It was awful, children were crying, parents were crying.

“It was one little lad’s fourth birthday and he was kitted out in a full Santa outfit – it was such a shame.

“And no one dared sit down because our previous seating reservations didn’t count and it was going to be every man for himself on the bigger plan so no-one wanted to get separated.”

After an early 4am start, the family was due to fly at 7.30am and enjoy a day of snow-filled fun. But when they were still cramed into the departure lounge at 11.30am, tempers began to soar.

Ian said: “We could actually see our plane parked up on the stand and being filled with food and fuel which was really frustrating.

“At about 11am the staff locked themselves in the passageway and went into a little huddle. One man was so frustrated that he was banging on the glass doors.

“Then one came out and told us the pilot was refusing to fly because the weather was too bad in Finland. But we checked, and other flights were landing there without any problems.

“People started shouting a bawling, it was getting very vocal. Police were called to disperse everyone and we were told to expect a letter on Monday offering us a full refund.

“It didn’t come but then again we didn’t really expect it to, it’s no suprise. Transun has clearly gone to ground and that’s where it should stay.”

Transun was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press. Greater Manchester Police confirmed they were called to the airport but said no action was taken.