WHEN anyone asks social worker Frances Whitehead how her holiday went - they only ask once!

Frances and her family were hoping for two weeks of sun and fun in the Spanish resort of Estartit, instead they ended up having a holiday from hell.

And now - a month later - they still only have half their luggage and their car is still in a Spanish garage being repaired.

They spent a day and a half travelling in their Ford Galaxy car from their home in Manchester Road, Haslingden, but no sooner did the family arrive than their problems began.

Frances, 41, fell from a bike and had to visit a nurse every day for week. Then the car broke down, because the fuel pump had water in it and Frances and husband Stephen had to walk three miles back to their campsite.

Frances, an assistant youth worker in Stacksteads and a residential social worker at Baltic House, Waterfoot, said: "We had to go to Gerona to collect a hire car and that was 45 minutes drive away.

"We kept returning every day to try to get our car back, but the garage kept saying they couldn't fix it. We spent £35 making telephone calls to try and sort it out and even stayed an extra day in Spain hoping the car would be fixed."

Eventually, the family, including sons Matthew, 19, and Robert, 16, gave up and hired another car to travel back home. The car had to be left at Le Havre while they boarded the ferry on foot with half their luggage.

Once in Portsmouth, it was a taxi ride to the next hire car shop to get another car to take them home.

Frances said: "Our car is still in Spain along with half our luggage and my purse! It's a good job we were covered by insurance and they will pay to have the car returned to us in Haslingden.

"When anyone who asks me, 'How did your holiday go?' I have to say it was a holiday from hell."

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