I never want to see a coach ever again!

BACK in school . . . head teacher Diana Taylor

COPPICE Primary School head teacher Diana Taylor is back at school after a three-and-a-half day trip by land and sea.

And she vowed “I never want to see a coach again” after spending 29-hours on the road during the epic journey. But she did manage to enjoy a bit of much-needed comfort aboard the new £500 million Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship which came to the rescue of 2,000 stranded Brits.

Diana was among four members of staff from the school who were stuck in Spain, Australia, Mexico and North America when the ash cloud from the Iceland volcanic eruption grounded flights across Northern Europe.

Diana (53) was due to fly back from the Costa Del Sol on April 16 after a week’s holiday with her husband, Jack (75).

They had some idea there might be problems the night before they were set to leave and Diane explained: “We were still told to get up on the Friday as normal, but then we were told we weren’t going.

“ Then we just really did not know what was happening for quite a few days”.

The couple were looked after by holiday reps before eventually leaving Fuengirola at noon on Tuesday for a 14-hour bus journey to Lloret in Northern Spain.

A break of 16-hours hours saw them back on a coach for a 10-hour trip to the port of Bilbao and Diana said: “We did laugh all the way on the coach, but people found it quite hard.

“We had a lot of elderly people who had difficulty walking.

“You had to get used to working at the speed of the Spanish!

“We were told on the Tuesday morning to be ready for 9am and the coach did not turn up until 11am.

“The worst bit was when we arrived at Bilbao because there was a queue of coaches.”

Tourists who had been bussed from across Spain boarded the 122,000-tonne Celebrity Eclipse.

They included one of Diana’s colleagues who had been forced to fly back to the country from Mexico.

Some of the delayed holidaymakers — including about 500 children — had been stranded for up to seven days.

They sailed at 1pm on Thursday and docked at Southampton at 5pm on Friday.

Diana and Jack then rounded off their journey with a five-hour coach trip before eventually arriving home in Greenfield at 1.30am on Saturday.

“There were people on board the ship that had come from all over the place.

“It was lovely. They couldn’t do more than enough for us and it was a good PR exercise for them,” said Diana.

But she is relieved to be home and back at school — which remained open last week — and added: “I did find it stressful because I should have been back to take my daughter to hospital on Thursday for minor surgery.

“There were a lot of retired people in the hotel, so they could go with the flow, but I think people who had to get back to work found it quite difficult.

“Obviously, I have got two very good deputies and we did keep in touch by phone and text.”