British dad trapped in Wuhan with newborn as he couldn't get to airport in time

A British father, his Chinese wife and their newborn baby are stuck at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak after losing a race to catch an evacuation flight home.

UK citizens living in the city of Wuhan complain they were not given enough time to make it onto the plane, which took off at 9.45am local time on Friday.

Britons have complained of Government arranged pick-ups arriving too late and travel documents being handed at the very last minute.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office chartered flight from Wuhan carrying 83 UK citizens arrived at RAF Brize Norton at 1.30pm this afternoon.

It is understood the FCO sent consular cars and issued special travel permits to get people past road blocks in the city, which authorities have put on lockdown.

But Adam Bridgeman told the BBC’s Today programme the car had arrived too late to her him, his wife and one-month-old son to the airport on time.

His Chinese partner even tried calling police to see if they could help them make the evacuation flight.

He said: ‘We tried to get transport to the airport, unfortunately we were unable to find a car.

‘She (his wife) phoned the police to see if they could arranging something, but nothing.

‘Fortunately in the end the Foreign Office arranged for a car to come pick us up.

‘But unfortunately by the time he arrived – because we had some trouble getting him to get to the right spot to pick us up – by the time he was there, we only had about 15 minutes to get to the airport, so we thought “it’s too late” so we just went home.’

Adam said the FCO had told him his family might be able to leave the city on another flight.

He added: ‘The Foreign Office said that they might be able to organise for us to board a different plane from, in their words, one of Britain’s EU partners.’

Adam and his wife Su are yet to get their baby Austin vaccinated after deciding it was far too risky to take him to Wuhan’s hospitals, which are packed with thousands of infected patients.

Some families have turned down a seat on the repatriation flight after being told relatives with Chinese passports would not be able to join them, after the People’s Republic forbade them from leaving the country.

That decision was reversed hours before the plane was due to depart, leaving very little time for families to get to the airport.

Another Briton, Michael Pattison, told Sky News he was given his travel documents seven minutes before he had to be at a ‘muster point’ 25 miles away.

He added: ‘I only received the official travel documents seven minutes before the deadline to get to the muster point which was 25 miles away in a city that’s in total lockdown with virtually no transport available.’

The coronavirus outbreak has now killed 213 people in China, infecting 9,692 people so far and spreading to at least 18 countries.

It is understood that the Foreign Office is in ‘urgent discussions’ with EU countries about a second rescue flight back from Wuhan.