Upper Dicker teacher organises flight to help scores of UK travellers return from Cambodia

Jerry Lewis, 49, had been travelling for seven months and was in Cambodia with his family when the coronavirus pandemic hit.

He said he booked two flights home but when they were cancelled sought to charter a plane through a contact.

Jerry added that he was put in touch with the chief operating officer of Malaysian Airlines to help organise a flight.

He said: “When the world’s in crisis – really there’s only one place you want to be and that’s in your own bed.

“Upper Dicker feels like the safest place on the planet.

“It’s sleepy and quiet. We can get food from our local shop.”

The ups and downs of organising the family’s trip home were ‘mind-bending’, according to Jerry.

He said to make the flight, which took passengers from Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur, viable they needed 100 passengers.

Jerry took to a Facebook group for travellers in Cambodia in a bid to gain enough support to run the flight, which cost around $1,200 a ticket.

But Jerry said some people thought he was a fraud and he had to persuade travellers her was legitimate.

The flight carried several backpackers and parents were concerned about their children, according to Jerry.

He said one girl asked him to speak to her mother in to persuade her the flight was legitimate.

Jerry added: “It was pretty stressful. It was about 5.30pm on the Thursday evening we had 100 people who had paid up.”

The idea of the flight was first conceived on the Tuesday, just four days before take off. Jerry said it was a ‘manically busy’ period as he worked out the logistics for the scores of Brits bidding to return home.

He added: “My family were helping, my wife was helping.”

He said they drew up lists and Google docs to keep track of passengers. Jerry said it was ‘amazing’ to get home to the UK.

He added: “Our main goal was to get our family home.

“The fact we have helped people was amazing. We have had loads of amazing feedback. It’s been incredible.”

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