A retired couple from Covingham have been stranded in Spain for almost a month because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Bill and Sandra Simpson flew out to stay at their daughter's villa in Roldan, Murcia, on March 12.

But since then both Spain and the UK have gone into lockdown.

And despite four attempts to get home, all their flights from Easyjet have been cancelled.

Bill, 74, told the Adver: “We were supposed to be on a flight home on March 21 but that was cancelled so was our flight on the 31st.

“Currently, we’ve got a rearranged flight for May 2 and we’re hoping that will still go ahead.

“But now we’re hearing all of Easyjet’s planes are grounded so it could be cancelled too. We’re just keeping our fingers crossed.”

Both Bill and Sandra, 70, suffer from medical conditions. Bill needs insulin for his Type 2 diabetes and Sandra suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease meaning they both fall into the at risk category.

Bill added: “We’re only allowed to go to the shop or the chemist. We need medicine and so far we’ve been able to get it.”

With the two being at risk, the British Embassy in Spain has recommended that they should stay put.

“The embassy said, with our conditions, we should stay where we are,” Bill said: “But other than that we don’t know what’s happening. If we do come home we can’t mix with anybody and we can’t have anybody coming round. But it’s home, and we want to be at home.”

Despite concerns for the UK, Bill said that Spain’s stores are coping well with demand. He said: “Supermarkets here are fully stocked so do we want to come back to what’s happening in the UK?”