Leeds woman slams Jet2holidays ‘frightening’ lack of care after airport transfer bus bursts into flames
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Shelly Thornton-Hodgson, 40, and her mum Sue, 65, were on their way back from a break in Palma when the fire broke out.
The pair were on a Jet2Holiday transfer bus returning to Palma Airport ahead of a late evening flight home to Leeds Bradford at the time.
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Hide AdSpeaking to the YEP, Shelly detailed the moments before the incident and how there was a funny smell coming from the bus.
She said: "When the driver was changing gears, it sounded a bit rickety. Fast forward five minutes and he was going down a hill and it smelt a little like the brakes were burning. All of a sudden he couldn’t change gear.
"He stopped the bus on the side of a motorway and just shouted ‘FIRE’ so we all got off to see that the engine was smoking and there were sparks coming from the floor on the underside of the minibus.”
Shelly, Sue and the seven other terrified passengers were forced to jump down a steep ditch off the motorway to get away to safety.
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Hide AdThe driver then ran back and started throwing cases out before the vehicle was engulfed by flames.
Shelly said: “We had to all scramble back up to run and get [the cases] before a few minutes later the full vehicle was on fire.
“Then the grass verge caught fire forcing us even further back. We were scrambling down the verge with cases in hand as the vehicle exploded.”
Shelly detailed how their hands were shaking as they lifted their luggage at Palma Airport check-in before settling on the flight back to Leeds Bradford with soot on their faces.
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