Elderly UK couple sent back from Goa Airport due to 5-minute delay, forced to abandon holiday plan

An elderly couple from the United Kingdom was forced to abandon their holiday plan in Goa after they were denied entry into India due to a 5-minute delay. They were sent back from the same flight they had arrived in as authorities refused to entertain the pleas of the 77-year-old couple. 

According to a report by The Sun, Ned Beercroft and his wife Margaret took off from Gatwick at 9.15am on March 21 but because of the four and half hour time difference they touched down at 0.05 am on March 22. The couple were denied entry by the authorities at Goa Airport as the date of entry on the Visas had expired. 

Had they arrived in India on March 21 instead of 5 minutes into March 22, they would have had their dream holiday as they had planned. 

Soon after arriving in India, they were forced to take the flight back to the UK, making a 20-hour journey which they claim left them ill for weeks. The couple says that they have complained to the Indian embassy but have heard nothing back. 

"You just can’t argue with these people. We’re lucky the plane hadn’t left, otherwise they told us we’d have to spend the night in a cell. We were totally exhausted by the whole thing, to arrive only to be turned back. It left us both really sick," Ned said. 

“It’s not good for anyone to be on a plane for that long, let alone when you get to our age. Why they had to send us home for the sake of five minutes on a piece of paper is beyond us,” he added. 

According to the report, the couple had allegedly spent £2,000 on a holiday package in a hotel in Goa and have not been refunded. 

Ned, a retired moving man from Kent, said they always dreamt of visiting India but would not want to go back now.