4 January 2005
By Jane Tyler, Evening Mail


A young couple who cancelled their holiday in the Maldives because of the tidal wave tragedy have donated their deposit to the disaster fund.

Danielle Davies and her boyfriend Dean Hughes, from Kingstanding, were due to go on the £2,800 holiday next November.

But after seeing all the devastation on the islands they decided not to go.

Danielle, aged 22, an administrator, said: "I wouldn't have been able to have a good time knowing that 12 months earlier people were fighting for their lives."

The couple then decided that they wanted to donate their £250 deposit to the appeal fund.

But it took them three days and countless phone calls to persuade First Choice to do that.

"At first they said they couldn't do that, then they asked us to put it in writing and they'd consider it, which would take about a month," she said.

"But we got annoyed and kept on at them because in that month the money could be already put to good use."

She said eventually First Choice agreed to their request and promised to donate their money to an appeal fund.

"If they hadn't it would have been like they were benefiting from those deaths," she said.

No-one could be contacted for immediate comment from First Choice.