A HAPPY holiday turned into a nightmare for a Lancaster family after they were left stranded at Manchester Airport when their pre-booked taxi failed to turn up.

And now the Lambert family have warned other holiday makers to double check their travel arrangements.

The family paid £75 up front to VSG Taxis of Whitegate but, while they were enjoying the sun in Ibiza, the firm went bust.

And, after no sleep and a delayed flight, the four adults and four children eventually had to wait for a relative to hire a minibus and drive down from Lancaster to pick them up.

"We had booked eight weeks in advance and had received a letter of confirmation from VSG Taxis," said Patricia Lambert.

"They took us to the airport and everything seemed fine but when we got back there was no one to pick us up. We called the company and a man at the other end just said he was sorry but the firm had gone bust. We were all tired and getting pretty stressed and the other taxi drivers quoted us £160 to get back to Lancaster. In the end my son-in-law had to hire a minibus and drive down to pick us up."

She added: "We'd had a great holiday but getting home was a nightmare. We just want to warn other people who may be going away on holiday to double check that they are not booked in with VSG Taxis. We were booked eight weeks in advance and someone who doesn't know that the company has gone bust could be waiting for them to turn up and end up missing their flight."

The Citizen called VSG Taxis at their Whitegate address and was told that VSG had ceased trading but another taxi firm had taken over their 388600 number.

A spokesman for the council who act as the licensing authority for taxi firms said: "We are concerned about the situation and are working with the police to investigate the matter."

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