A Kent coach company came to the rescue of passengers stranded by the collapse of the travel firm XL.

The Civil Aviation Authority enlisted the help of Connections, a division of Gillingham-based The Kings Ferry Group, to rescue people arriving back in the UK at the weekend.

Coaches were sent to collect flight passengers from all over the UK, who landed at airports different from their original point of departure, and help them get home.

Connections had just a matter of a few hours to respond to demand and operations director at The Kings Ferry, Ian Fraser, believes the firm’s ability to react quickly was a key factor in the success of the overall operation.

He said: “We understand that those passengers arriving home had already suffered enough stress so all weekend we have worked tirelessly to ensure that the disruption to incoming passengers is kept to the minimum and that everybody got home as quickly and comfortably as possible.

He added: “We have in place a sophisticated network of operators all over the country and so we were well placed to arrange vehicles to cover all incoming flights at short notice and make sure that nobody was left stranded.”

“And with passengers continuing to return during the next few weeks, we will continue to work with the Civil Aviation Authority until all those affected arrive back home.”