St Albans couple forced to leave Ukrainian refugees due to visa delays

Graham and Angela Coton, from St Albans, had hoped to take a mother and her two children to their sponsor family in London after delivering aid to Poland

A couple who had to leave three refugees in France after visa delays have called the Homes for Ukraine scheme "disjointed and slow".

Graham and Angela Coton, of St Albans, Herts, hoped to take a mother and her two children to their UK sponsor family after delivering aid to Poland.

But on Monday, the family were refused passage to the UK in Calais due to a delay in the vetting of their sponsor.

The government said it was "moving as quickly as possible".

Its Homes for Ukraine scheme allows UK nationals to individually sponsor a Ukrainian national's visa so that those without family connections can still come to live with a host family in the UK.

The couple delivered humanitarian aid to Lublin in Poland on Saturday and wanted to take the 35-year-old mother and her two children, aged 14 and seven, to a family in Norbury, south London, on their return.

'Completely traumatised'

The Ukrainian family had been waiting for approval of their visa applications for five days, Mr Coton said.

He said the scheme was "a complete debacle" and that the family was "completely traumatised".

"They should have been waived through and allowed to travel - we had to leave them in Calais and put them up in a hotel... We felt we'd let them down," he said.

"The process is so disjointed and so slow... All of this spin about welcoming these people in, that's not the reality on the ground."

Mr and Mrs Coton have raised £6,000 through local donations and will be using it to assist other refugees waiting to travel

Mr Coton said he and his wife would return to France and take the family to their sponsor as soon as their visas were approved.

He added there should be a better system in place for refugees told to wait in Calais as he was unable to find any help from British authorities there.

"Britain is not doing its bit because it's failed on the bureaucracy side," he said.

A government spokesman said "applicants should not try to reach the UK until they have received notification of permission to travel".

"We are moving as quickly as possible to ensure that those fleeing horrific persecution in Ukraine can find safety in the UK," he said.