A British couple paid £1,500 for a seven-hour taxi ride in a 'disco bus' from Dubai to Oman to catch a flight back to London, fleeing the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Sarah and Ed Short, both in their 50s and from Kent, were on holiday in Dubai when their return flight was grounded due to airspace closures amid US-Israeli strikes on Iran. They spent ten hours sheltering in a basement during airstrikes before seeking an alternative route home.
The couple hired a taxi described as 'the craziest taxi you’ve ever seen' – a disco bus with twinkly lights on the ceiling – for the 300-mile journey to Muscat. They lost internet contact at the Omani border, causing family to worry they had been arrested.
Upon arrival at Muscat airport, they encountered 'chaos' with crowds of people desperate to leave. They boarded a British Airways flight that landed at Heathrow Terminal 5 on Thursday morning, two hours late, where emotional family members greeted them.
The Foreign Office has said it is working with airlines to bring back some 130,000 Britons registered in the region. A government repatriation flight from Muscat failed to take off on Wednesday due to a technical issue but is scheduled to depart later on Thursday, with two more flights planned.
