Hundreds of North-East holidaymakers stranded in Florida by Hurricane Frances returned to the region today to described their experiences - and declared the journey back the worst part of their ordeal.

The exhausted passengers spoke as they arrived by coach at Newcastle International Airport from Birmingham, following a journey of more than 18 hours after checking in at Orlando International Airport.

After days of delay, they first flew to Halifax in Nova Scotia to refuel, before flying to the UK - only to be re-routed to Birmingham.

Stephen Clegg of Stanley, County Durham, said: "When I heard there was to be a hurricane I had expected to see cows flying all over the place, but it was just very windy with a lot of rain.

"But the worst part was the trip home which was an absolute nightmare. I don't know why they couldn't just get us a trip straight back to Newcastle."

Alison McKenry of Houghton-le-Spring said: "It was an absolute nightmare.

"There was lots of children on the bus. Some never had toilets and there were no refreshments to be had - bearing in mind we had all just spent hours cooped up in an airplane.

"It has taken us 18 hours and 42 minutes to get here. Of that an hour and half was spent waiting on tarmac while we re-fuelled in Canada.

"All fair dues to the flight crew they rang ahead to control to see if they could fly us to Newcastle but were told they could not."

Wendy Lafferty of, Wallsend, said: "The holiday was fantastic but the journey there and back was a nightmare.

"We suffered disruption arrived just after Hurricane Charlie and then to have flight cancelled coming back."

The passengers had been destined to fly out on Saturday, but their flight was grounded because of the storm.

A My Travel spokesman said most of the passengers had been put up in hotels where they could be kept updated.

She said Monarch were able to offer a flight, but for operational reasons were only able to fly into Birmingham."

The spokesman added: "Had we to wait for a flight which could fly direct to Newcastle, the delay would have been even longer.

"We are always sorry when there are delays, but this was an unavoidable situation."