World Cup dreams shattered
Written by Jessica Lal on November 19, 2022
A distraught family told how their World Cup dreams were shattered after their five-year-old daughter was banned from boarding their flight to Qatar as she didn’t have a visa.
Heartbroken Rhian Hayes, 39, told how daughter Orla and football mad son Harrison, eight, were left in tears after being turned away at Heathrow Airport.
The family had saved up for three years for the £7,000 once-in-a-lifetime trip and had tickets for four matches.
By then the distraught family had returned to their home near Newport, South Wales.
Civil servant Rhian told MailOnline: ‘We feel absolutely gutted for the kids. We had been saving up for this for years and it comes at a time when you’ve just been hit by a financial crisis. It’s just devastating.
‘I hope it doesn’t scar the children. Everything was linked to my five year old.
‘She’s apologising saying “I’m so sorry”. We’re trying to say to her “It’s not your fault. It’s the system’s fault”. All she is hearing is Oral Hayes, Orla Hayes. We can’t fly because of Orla Hayes.
Source: DailyMail