Hospitals and schools facing slow recovery

Coaches organised by holiday operators were beginning to arrive yesterday from continental destinations as a massive logistical operation swung into action to return people home.

Airlines and tour operators face the challenge of dealing with a backlog stretching over five days and the added headache of planes and crew not being in the "right" place.

Thousands of Britons remain trapped all over the world, along with numerous overseas tourists keen to leave via UK airports.

Stranded holidaymakers in Europe are still heading to Channel ports in their droves to make their own way home by road, rail and sea.

Frances Tuke, spokeswoman for travel association Abta, said: "I would imagine it will take quite a few days to sort people out because we are looking, in terms of British people who are abroad, at five days' worth of people."

More than 300 ski passengers from Chambery and Geneva arrived at Leeds Bradford Airport yesterday as part of an operation involving 70 coaches organised by airline Jet2.com to return stranded customers from Portugal, Spain and the Czech Republic including a party of 29 swimmers aged 11-17 from Kirklees who have been taking part in intensive training in Spain.

The airline has also chartered flights from Lanzarote, Tenerife and Palma to fly passengers to mainland Europe who will complete their journey to the UK by coach.

Some schools in Yorkshire were hit yesterday as staff failed to return from holidays. Exam chiefs said some GCSE oral exams and practical assessments due to begin in the coming days could be moved for youngsters stuck abroad.

Council chiefs in Rotherham said 18 headteachers and 62 teachers at 100 primary and special schools had been stranded and in York seven headteachers had been unable to return.

North Yorkshire County Council warned if staff had to take additional leave they would be expected to "make it up" again.

Appointments at some hospitals have also been cancelled because of the absence of key staff.

But David Strachan, of the Yorkshire Cochlear Implant Service in Bradford, was among a group of leading ear, nose and throat surgeons rescued by Yorkshire businesswoman Cassandra Brown, of the hearing implant company MED-EL UK, who hired a 15-seat minibus in Nottingham and drove to the south of France where they were stuck at a conference. Mr Strachan was also able to pick up his teenage daughter from Paris, where she was on an exchange visit, to enable her to site her A-level French oral exams this week.

Organisers of of the FINA/Li-Ning Diving World Series, due to be held at Ponds Forge in Sheffield later this week, said it had been cancelled and would now be held in Mexico.

But there may be a silver lining to the cloud of volcanic ash, with tourism chiefs claiming the travel ban could bring benefits to Britain as people opt to holiday at home rather than travel abroad.

The Crab Manor Hotel at Asenby, near Thirsk, said it had seen a "real surge" in bookings since last week.

And the Environmental Transport Association claimed the flight ban was a "blessing for millions" under flight paths and it had saved an estimated 2.8 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in Europe.