A BUDGET break turned bank buster for a Poynton family who resorted to a marathon train journey when their flights were cancelled THREE times – thanks to a flock of birds and a wildcat strike.

Howard and Tiree Cawthorne, of Teal Avenue, and his brother-in-law and wife, Scott and Gaynor Bradley, of Beech Crescent, were stranded in Rome for four days.

Their ordeal began when a Ryanair jet made an emergency landing at Rome’s Ciampino airport after a flock of birds was sucked into an engine.

As a result, the airport was closed and their own Ryanair flight back to Manchester was cancelled, leaving them to return to their hotel and book another Ryanair flight the next day.

But the airport remained closed and this flight was also cancelled, so they booked another flight from Rome’s second airport, Fiumicino, with Italian airline Alitalia.

They couldn’t believe their luck when that flight was cancelled too, when the crews went on strike. They ended up getting a night train from Rome to Paris, a second train to Calais, and then a ferry back to Britain – at a cost of more than £1,000.

Dad-of-three Howard, 49, a chaffeur said: "It was unbelievable. We’re just glad we’re finally home. It started as a cheap break, but ended up costing a lot of money. We could have gone to Barbados for what we paid."

Their journey home should have taken two hours, but they clocked up 28 hours, and their "cheap" holiday bill came in at £4,400.

The grandfather added: "There was very little communication between Ryanair and its customers. It was chaos.  We were left to our own devices. Then Alitalia went on strike and we couldn’t believe it. It was horrendous, but when I was sitting on the train, I found it quite amusing. I just thought ‘that’s typical’. It would have been easier to fly to New Zealand."

Howard and Tiree, 47, a careworker who had travelled to Rome with Gaynor and Scott to celebrate Scott’s 50th birthday, were among thousands of passengers stranded at Ciampino airport.

A Ryanair spokesman said although the runways were closed, the airport was open and their ticket desk dealt with hundreds of passengers.

He added: "They were rebooked onto a flight the following day, which shows there was communication, and there were updates every two hours on our website. Unfortunately, the runways remained closed and the couples took it upon themselves to get home."

He said Ryanair complied with European Union regulations, the couples would have been rebooked onto another flight and that no passengers were left in Rome.