My partner and I travelled to the south of France in December to spend Christmas with my father-in-law. We were taking our newborn twins to meet him for the first time.
When we arrived at his flat in Perpignan, he didn’t answer the door. We had to break a window to gain entry, whereupon we discovered his dead body.
It was a gruesome experience involving the fire brigade, police, coroner and lots of bureaucracy. The funeral was scheduled for 28 December, the same date that I had been due to travel from Paris to London and back on Eurostar to collect my son.
I sought to cancel my £389 Eurostar tickets, via the booking agent Trainline, but was told that they were non-refundable. I therefore had to buy new tickets to make the trip two days later.
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