OVERSEAS reps expect to get abuse from holidaymakers but being vilified by striking Spanish coach drivers brandishing missiles is surely above and beyond the call of duty.
But that is what First Choice reps endured during recent industrial action in Lanzarote.
Problems arose when customers could not get from hotel to airport or airport to hotel because of the strike.
So reps embarked on a mission to ferry stranded holidaymakers back and forth in their cars.
But the pickets were so incensed that reps came under a barrage of abuse and a hail of missiles as they made their way out.
“It did get quite hairy,” a First Choice spokesman said. “The strikers were not too pleased.”
As the strike wore on, reinforcements were drafted in from Crawley as First Choice enlisted former reps to down tools in the UK and rally to the cause in Spain.
However, as the new recruits flew to the island, the strike was called off.
“About 10 staff travelled to neighbouring Fuerteventura and slept all day in preparation but then the strike was cancelled,” the spokesman said.
Backchat questions what is worse – moaning Brits or mad Mediterraneans. We all know the answer to that one.