A FAMILY from Stanley were among hundreds of North-East holidaymakers stranded in Florida by Hurricane Frances.

They returned to the region last Thursday - and declared that the journey back was the worst part of their ordeal.

The exhausted family arrived by coach at Newcastle International Airport from Birmingham. They spoke following a journey that took more than 18 hours after checking in at Orlando International Airport.

After days of delay, they first flew to Halifax in Nova Scotia to refuel, before flying to the UK - only to be re-routed to Birmingham.

Stephen Clegg, of Stanley, said: "When I heard there was to be a hurricane I had expected to see cows flying all over the place, but it was just very windy with a lot of rain.

"But the worst part was the trip home, which was an absolute nightmare. I don't know why they couldn't just get us a trip straight back to Newcastle."

Alison McKenry of Houghton-le-Spring said: "It was an absolute nightmare.

"There were lots of children on the bus. Some did not have toilets and there were no refreshments to be had - bearing in mind we had all just spent hours cooped up in an airplane.

"It has taken us 18 hours and 42 minutes to get here. Of that an hour and half was spent waiting on tarmac while we refueled in Canada."

The passengers had been due to fly out on Saturday, but their flight was grounded because of the storm.

A My Travel spokesman said most of the passengers had been put up in hotels where they could be kept updated.

She said Monarch was able to offer a flight, but for operational reasons was only able to fly into Birmingham.

The spokesman added: "Had we to wait for a flight which could fly direct to Newcastle, the delay would have been even longer.

"We are always sorry when there are delays, but this was an unavoidable situation."