Thai PM ousted by a court

British tourists are enduring chaotic scenes as thousands of foreigners attempt to flee Thailand's deepening political crisis. The country's Constitutional Court has banned the ruling People Power Party and said Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat must step down over election fraud - a ruling he has accepted. But as tourists scramble to get out, the father of one Briton stuck in the resort of Phuket said his daughter had told him how fights had broken out among thousands of tourists besieging a military airfield. Nadine Howard, an advertising agency worker from Hampstead, northwest London, and her boyfriend are trapped in Phuket following a two-week holiday. They travelled with Taiwanese carrier EVA Air but have been unable to get a flight to Bangkok in a bid to return to the UK. Mr Howard said: "They have had to pay £1,000 to get a flight from Phuket to Hong Kong and then they are hoping to fly back to London from there. Neither she nor I could get through to EVA Air so I went to their headquarters in London. "The person we spoke to there was very helpful, but they were overwhelmed. It's impossible to realise the scale of the problem. The airline was trying to sort out travel for thousands of people stuck in Thailand." He added: "Nadine told me of a military airfield where thousands of people were waiting for flights. Locals told her not to go there as fights have broken out. Apparently the place is like a refugee camp." Bangkok's international airport is likely to remain closed until December 15 and some tourists are now attempting to get out on relief flights which are taking them to London via Hong Kong, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. On Monday, Faye Peacock, the wife of rugby league star Jamie, was able to fly from a military airport to Stockholm, in Sweden, and then on to the UK. The 33-year-old is 30 weeks pregnant and had feared she would be trapped there as many airlines will not allow heavily-pregnant women to fly. Arriving at Manchester Airport, she said: "It's brilliant to be back. I'm ecstatic but we just feel a bit strange at the moment. I think it will not sink in for a few days. We just want to get home now, it is all a bit surreal." Mrs Peacock added: "We were all left in the airport just to fend for ourselves. We were left just to try to get out by ourselves, we had to get in a taxi in a strange country and hope the driver was taking us to where we wanted to go." Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell said major airlines including Qantas and Emirates are laying on extra flights with UK Government support to help people stranded in Thailand get home. Gulf Air, Malaysian Airways, Thai Airways, Cathay Pacific and Silk Airways are also expected to provide additional flights, mainly out of Phuket.

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ITN | December 2, 2008

Tags:. .taxi. .refugee. .gulf. .sweden. .strange