AN 18-week pregnant woman and her partner have described their ‘holiday from hell’ after Thomas Cook went bust.

Danielle Baker, from Coppull and Luke Sutton had travelled to Lanzarote for a short-break but their trip was only three days old when the travel company announced they were going into liquidation.

The project manager for QVC described their holiday horror when she was called by reception and they were told they had to pay the remaining £1000 of their bill or they would be kicked out.

The 23-year-old said: “We tried not to panic as I knew we were ATOL protected and from what I’d seen on the news, we were protected, the hotel couldn’t remove us.

“When I spoke to the receptionist I argued this was the advice on the CAA website and not to pay hotels any money as they will receive this as part of our ATOL protection.

“When I asked if she was happy to kick a pregnant woman out of the hotel with no-where to go she simply smirked and shrugged her shoulders I then asked to speak to the manager of the hotel which I was told to wait outside his office where there was two armed guards at his office door

“We were all told by the front of house manager at this point that we could stay until the 26th when we were due to leave, we then thought panic over.”

However the next day, Thomas Cook reps arrived to try to help the holiday makers but were told the hotel had refused the ATOL guarantee and they had an hour to clear their rooms or it would be locked.

Danielle said: “It was such a panic as we knew our passports were locked away in the safe so we rushed to get packed up.

“Luckily my mum and step-dad were staying in a different hotel and they paid for us to get flights and a hotel for one night stay to try to relax.

“We just wanted to get home and it was meant to be a chilled holiday before our baby arrives but it turned out to be the worst ever holiday.”

The former Southlands School pupil added: “I am worried about how the extra stress may have affected the baby.

“I suffer from anxiety and it just all made it worse.

“I was so upset and the way we were handled was terrible.

“We were lucky as my mum was there to help but I worried about some of the families who were there and how they were treated.

“We had to €300 for a night in another hotel and luckily managed to book early flights home which have cost us over €600 but some people may not have been able to do that.

“We are hoping to get our money back from the holiday too.”