IF the stranded Haxby holidaymakers sent a postcard, it would have been a mournful affair. "Stuck in Manchester. Luggage in Palma. Be home all too soon. Wish we weren't here."

Their dreams of sunbathing by day and partying by night were shattered by the Spanish coach drivers' strike. To add insult to injury, their summer wardrobe went without them and, ludicrously, they fear, will not be back for two months.

They now face the prospect of sweltering in their winter woollies all summer.

No doubt their bikinis, shorts and sunhats will be returned just in time for a jaunt to Scarborough - in the first sleet of autumn.

Updated: 10:33 Thursday, July 05, 2001