LAST month’s Russian plane crash over Egypt affected one Liphook couple who were on holiday with their two children in Sharm el-Sheikh when the jet was reported to have been hit by a bomb smuggled on board by suspected IS terrorists.

After the airport was shut down, the East Hampshire family found themselves stranded without a flight home having been due to return to the UK?last Wednesday.

Back home, Andrew Meech, of Liphook Travel, was already working hard on getting the family of four, who have asked not to be named, on the first possible flight out.

Andrew sprang into action as soon as he heard about the situation and by contacting tour operators at the resort and getting in touch with the family via their mobile phones, he managed to get them back home safely within 48 hours.

“We always make a note of our customers’ mobile phone numbers, so we can contact them should any problems arise,” said Andrew.

“By talking to the family, we heard that there was very little information for stranded holiday makers about the situation on the ground and we were able to reassure them that every effort was being made by us to get them flown back home as soon as possible.

“We were able to offer them a whole network of help and support and by keeping in touch and talking to them, they knew they were not on their own.

“The family got back safely last Friday evening – after we managed to get them on one of the first Easyjet flights out.”

For Andrew and his team it was all part of the service they offer.

His advice to anyone going abroad is to always book through an established travel agent and tour operator who will give their customers all the support they need and who have the necessary infrastructure if required.

“Easyjet dealt with our customers very well”, said Andrew. “They put the family up in a nice hotel for the extra two days, transferred them to the airport by bus and made sure they got on the plane back to London - all without any extra charges, while we kept in touch with them by phone.”

Andrew warned unless travellers are ATOL protected, they are on their own in a situation like this.

He added: “We also make regular checks on the safety of destinations through the advice given by the Foreign Office.

There are currently no inbound flights into Sharm el-Sheikh – for the foreseeable future – and no UK tour operators will fly to Tunisia after the terrorist attacks there in June.”

There were still 15,000 UK holidaymakers stuck in the Egyptian Red Sea resort at the start of this week but the Foreign Office expects them to be home by this weekend.