Thousands stranded by Majorca strike

Thousands of British and German holidaymakers were stranded at Palma de Majorca airport yesterday after coach drivers went on strike on the first day of the peak holiday season.

Desperate tour operators commandeered taxis throughout the Mediterranean island to ferry passengers to their hotels as hundreds of planes arrived throughout the day. A record 640 planes were scheduled to bring in 82,000 passengers yesterday, the busiest day so far this year.

At one point up to 7,000 passengers were stuck in the terminal. Numbers later fell to 3,000, with more than 18 aircraft backed up on the asphalt, prompting loud complaints from exasperated visitors.

"We've been coming here for 21 years but we won't be coming back next year," said a tourist from Cornwall. "It's a disgrace. We are being held hostage."

The strike for higher wages began at midnight on Thursday, forcing families to spend the night in the airport's corridors and waiting rooms, sleeping on airbeds or beachmats. A bemused Glaswegian complained: "We're just herded here like cattle, without knowing what's going on. It's upsetting for the children."

A spokesman insisted the airport, the third busiest in Spain, would remain open over the weekend despite the strike, with 316,000 holidaymakers due to fly in. Tour operators hired the island's entire fleet of 1,000 taxis for 100,000 pesetas (£400) each for a 12-hour day to ease the chaos. Huge queues snaked from the taxi ranks.

The island is one of Europe's busiest tourist destinations: last year 24 million people passed through Palma airport.

Coach drivers want a 17.2 per cent pay rise over three years, but the bus companies are offering only 15 per cent. Emergency talks broke down yesterday, and drivers are threatening to strike indefinitely if their demands are not met.

In Ibiza and Minorca, which are also affected, pickets stopped coaches ferrying people from the airport. Police had to protect tour operators who took visitors in their own cars.