Georgia Harrison from Rochdale was arrested while travelling to the airport to fly back home to Manchester(Image: Georgia Harrison)The Foreign Office has issued a statement after a mum from Greater Manchester was put on a travel ban in Turkey during a trip for her boyfriend’s new teeth.
Georgia Harrison, 32, from Whitworth in Rochdale, was arrested alongside her partner after making the ‘worst mistake of her life’ while drunk in a hotel room last month.
The mum had spent the night celebrating her boyfriend getting his new veneers as part of the trip when she says she blacked out and smashed the glass bathroom screen. The following morning, on May 7, when trying to leave the Lexia Hotel in Antalya without declaring the damage, she was arrested.
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She has been put on a travel ban and remained in the country in the seven weeks since the incident. She claimed she was told to pay the sum of £15,000 for the damage and after ‘resisting arrest’ to have her travel ban removed and appeared in court.
What followed has been weeks of turmoil for the Greater Manchester mum, with Georgia previously telling the M.E.N she initially offered a sum of £3,000 and instructed legal representatives to try and fight for the travel ban to be lifted so she could return home with her daughter, aged 12.
The Foreign Office has since issued a statement confirming they are in contact with Turkish authorities over the mum’s travel ban, which has prevented her from flying back home to Rochdale.
Georgia is desperate to get home to her daughter(Image: Georgia Harrison)An FCDO spokesperson said: “We are providing support to a British woman who has received a travel ban in Turkey and are in contact with the local authorities.”
As part of their support overseas, the Foreign Office is able provide the details of where to access interpreters.
“I got drunk and I have somehow smashed the shower screen of the hotel room and damaged the room. [It was the] worst mistake of my life. Anyway it’s done, I can’t change it but wow am I paying for it,” Georgia said last week.
“I know I did wrong and I regret being so stupid to have damaged the hotel, but I need to get home to my daughter.
“I’m sorry I was scared and I just tried to get away from it by trying to leave. Yes it was the wrong thing to do, but I was scared and not thinking straight. Maybe if I didn’t, I would be in this mess. I know only I am to blame and my actions are the reason I cannot see my daughter.”
The damage Georgia claims to have caused to the bathroom in the hotel(Image: Georgia Harrison)Since the incident, Georgia claims she has appeared in court and unknowingly signed an agreement to pay back £15,000 in damages, was originally denied a solicitor, and has also been unable to access her vital medication, which she only had a five-day supply of for her original trip.
Despite attempts at mediation with legal representatives overseas, she says the travel ban has still not been lifted, with the fine looming over her, and she has since tried to flee the country via plane, a ferry and a day trip to Greece.
In an updated public post on Facebook earlier this week, the mum said she has now offered £10,000 in damages to be able to finally fly home, but that she is still ‘no closer’ to a solution and needs ‘to get home to my child’.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise funds for Georgia to pay the fine and support her with costs while staying in Turkey. Donations can be made here.
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