A dream holiday at a luxury villa in Turkey for a Sittingbourne couple has turned into disaster with the collapse of holiday giants XL.

Tanya Douglass, 27, and Darren Brown, 24, of Grovehurst Road, were counting the days to their flight but the dream became a nightmare when Tanya heard the news on the television.

Tanya, a commercial executive with KM Kent Business, said she was stunned and horrified to hear the news. “I was just sitting having my morning cup of tea and thinking there were only 13 more days before we flew out,” she said. “I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“I immediately rang Darren and asked who we were flying with. When he said XL, I told him 'no we aren’t – they’ve gone bust’!”

Tanya and Darren, an IT support technician for Amicus Horizon, are battling to scrape together another £400 for new flights and are trying to recoup their money.

But Tanya added: “We felt we could rely on an established company like XL, and they must have known about this for some time.

“I’m shocked and disgusted that they were still taking bookings up until midnight on the day before they went bust.”