A Kingston woman stranded in Lanzarote by the volcanic ash cloud has called for the general Election to be delayed while travellers battle to get home.

Lou Mullenger, who lives in St John's Road, said the continued campaigning of all parties 'stuck in her throat' as thousands struggled to get back to the UK.

She said: "Something that sticks in my throat as I watch the news is how the election campaign still rages on regardless.

"Surely, if nothing else, it would be a huge vote winner if one of the leaders suggested a postponement in the general election until all us voters were home?"

However, she said she was relieved to be in accommodation and was hoping to get home soon.

"Sitting in our apartement in Lanzarote, I am thinking how lucky we are having somewhere to stay," she added.

"Yes we are inconvenienced, work and school etc and yes, money is getting tight, but we have somewhere comfortable to sleep and we have food.

"Through the television we see terrible stories of people sleeping in airports, spending money they don't have, insurance companies refusing to pay and businesses inflating their prices and profiting from others' misery - and I mean misery - some people genuinely have no money for food."

And she poured scorn on the plan to evacuate stranded Britons using Royal Navy ships, which began this morning.

She said: "The current government have sent three naval ships we hear?

"Fantastic, except those ships can only hold, collectively, approximately one thousand people. Not much comfort to the other hundred and fifty thousand-odd stranded all over the globe.

"A cynical vote winner I ask?

"The marketing departements of those big businesses such as Tescos (who have just announced record profits of silly billions), would be on a massive winner if they gave something back to their shoppers and chartered a few cruise ships to pick up stranded passengers, or what about all those big banks, couldn't they help?

"In today's Market with the internet and instant information, the whole world would know how well you had behaved.

"What an amazing way to win public support - remember the Susan Boyle effect!"

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