A WOMAN from Duntocher who was stranded in Australia when the country was hit by the coronavirus pandemic finally arrived back home on Monday after weeks of uncertainty and confusion caused by flight cancellations.

Carol Mcgee’s dream trip to celebrate a forthcoming milestone birthday turned sour on her last day when Emirates cancelled the flight to Glasgow.

Stranded for two weeks along with thousands of other Brits trying to get home, Carol says she felt abandoned by the UK Government and the British Consulate in Perth who, she says, offered no help.

Carol jetted out to Western Australia on February 24 at the start of a month-long holiday which was a 50th birthday gift from family and friends.

Staying with friends in Rockingham, near Perth, she visited a number of top tourist sites before the Covid-19 restrictions kicked in three weeks into her holiday.

She told the Post: “It’s an idyllic area for a perfect holiday, with beautiful scenery and wineries and I met a lot of people I got to know on a previous trip three years ago.

“The day before I was due to come home I learned via social media that the flight had been cancelled.”

Read more: Clydebank mums speak about giving birth during a pandemic

Carol has criticised Emirates for the way the cancellation was handled, lack of communication and for not doing enough for those stranded.

She also slammed the British Consulate in Perth, saying: “The day I went to their office, 50 other people were there seeking help but they shut the doors on us.”

Carol says before the flight back to Edinburgh on Qatar Airways, she had tickets for four other flights – bought through the generosity of a friend – which were all cancelled at the last minute.

While still in Australia, her plight was covered by the BBC in a news bulletin highlighting the dilemma facing tourists.

She told the channel: “I think the Foreign Office have been absolutely no use whatsoever.

“People are spending thousands of pounds on tickets - that’s the ones who can afford it, and the rest are left with no food, no accommodation and shelter and no help whatsoever.

“They are in dire straits.”

Carol, a mum of three, is well known in the Clydebank area as a professional psychic medium, holding fundraising events for charities, including Golden Friendships.

Her dad, Denis Fraser, who lives in Dalmuir, is self-isolating as he has underlying health issues.

She said: “I am glad to be back but dreading it at same time because Australia is definitely much safer and you are less likely to catch the virus out there.”