The free amigos! Husband meets wife with roses at 3am as last Brits returning from Mexico land at Gatwick an HOUR before red-list deadline that would force them to spend ten days in quarantine hotel

The last British tourists out of Cancun have been spotted landing at Gatwick with just an hour to spare before the Mexico is placed on the UK’s red list forcing them to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. 

Holidaymakers were seen at the airport after booking one of the few remaining airline seats to the UK before this morning’s deadline. 

And romantic husband Luke McGovern went the extra mile as he picked up his wife Lupita from the airport with a large bouquet of roses at 3am.  

The returning passengers spoke of their anger at having to spend thousands of pounds to flee the country in a ‘panic’.

Clutching a Sombero hat as a memento of her visit Zoe Evans said she was ‘absolutely gutted’ at having to end her holiday to make sure she would not have to spend ten days at an airport hotel in self isolation.

With her son Daniel, 28, and his girlfriend, they had paid £2,100 to make sure they were on one of the last British Airways flights back to Gatwick Airport.

‘When we tried to book the flight home the price was an extra £500 and then suddenly it went up to more than a £1,000 each, said Zoe, 50.

‘We were able to get three tickets for £700 each. We only lost one day of our holiday but I could not afford to spend 10 days in an hotel in quarantine as I have business to run.

‘It was a real panic to get on the flight as I knew I could not afford to miss another ten days of work.’

Elena Aberghini, 26, said she had been sad to end her holiday early and said there had been an anxious wait to see if they could get on the British Airways flight.

‘It was touch and go if we could get a ticket. The price kept on going up all the time.’

Advertising executive Peter Howlett, 53, cut short his planned five week stay in Mexico to spend time with his wife Ivonne’s family.

He said:’ We had intended to spend five weeks in Mexico, but had only been there two weeks when we heard the announcement that it was on the red list

‘Like many others I had to re-book the tickets. It just seems incredible that people have been given three days notice to get out of the country. I had to get back as I have to work and could not afford to spend my time in a hotel in quarantine.’

Peter, from Herne Hill, south London, said many others of BA2022 from Cancun had similar tales of a mad rush to make sure they could secure a flight home.

Students William Coatman and his girlfriend Demee Elliott paid £2,000 to guarantee a ticket on the BA flight.

‘I think everyone who has had to come home is angry, It just seems so unnecessary and there did not need to be the panic that was caused.

‘We had been travelling around Mexico for six weeks, We were due to fly back on Thursday, but cannot afford to pay over £2,000 for a stay in a hotel here in the UK.

‘Luckily we had managed to get most of our trip completed, but I’m not happy at having to pay out all that money to come home early.’

Other passengers were scathing of the Government’s decision to put Mexico on the red list over fears of the spread of the virus.

‘It just makes me so angry,’ said a holidaymaker in her 50s.