England fans make epic 500-mile Düsseldorf taxi trip after flight is cancelled
Four determined England football fans have made a 500-mile trip to Germany in a taxi for tonight's crunch Euro 2024 clash - after their flight was cancelled.
John Powell, Mario Ferranti, Brett Barlow and his son Oliver Barlow, turned to a Stoke-on-Trent cab firm to keep their dream of seeing the quarter-final alive.And today (July 6) the quartet are on their way from Staffordshire to Düsseldorf ahead of the crunch tie against Switzerland.
Taxi driver Arshad Mohammed, of Cosy Cruise Travel Limited in Shelton, has even promised to wait for the game to end before whisking them back home.
John, 46, from Endon, Mario, 40, from Baddeley Green, Brett, 47, and Oliver, 17, both from Brown Edge, were due to fly to Düsseldorf from East Midlands Airport last night (July 5).
However they learned their flight was cancelled late on Wednesday.
After looking at every possible way to get to the match the Stoke City fans rang Mr Mohammed, who agreed to take them - despite it being more than a 1,000-mile round trip.
John said: "We booked a sports package, a football plane, where everybody on the flight was to go to the match.
"But we had an email saying it had been cancelled on Wednesday evening. We should have gone last night (Friday)."We just looked at every possibility to try and get the four of us there together. We looked at trains, planes, there was just nothing that was viable for a reasonable price."So, just off the cuff, somebody said: 'What about getting a taxi'? We rang Arshad and he said yes. We have agreed a certain price but we are on a meter. We are going to the match and coming straight back after."John said they had a good journey to Dusseldorf, setting off at midnight and taking the shuttle train across the channel.
John said: "We got the refund from the company we booked with. We still had the tickets to the match. We follow England all over. We needed to come to this one."I am pretty optimistic. If all goes well we will need to do the same trip on Wednesday."
Brett said: "There was no way we were missing the match. We are going to get a few German beers in."We are [shattered], but hopefully we are going to win. It is a bit of adrenalin.
"Until Thursday we did not know how we were getting here. We have been all around the world with England.
"We went to Qatar. We were not missing this on our doorstep."We are hoping to be back in the Potteries just before midday tomorrow (July 7)."Mr Mohammed, 44, manager of Cosy Cruise Travel Limited, said: "They are regular customers and use us for airports."The customers have booked me a hotel. As soon as I get there I am going to get my head down.
"I am going to catch up on some sleep, freshen up and go back for them after the match."I am delighted to be able to help my customers. It is a bit of a different job, a bit of a new experience. It is my first venture abroad in the taxi.
"Maybe I will be in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest taxi fare going."
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcast episode to find out What You Need To Know...