A recent bride from Bellingham is distraught after her father died on holiday but they cannot bring him home due to a £25,000 medical bill.

Black cab driver Ray Kippin, 53, tragically died on Wednesday (August 26) while on holiday in Turkey with his wife Diane, 63.

The grandfather-of-three, from Fieldside Road in Downham, suffered a heart attack the previous Friday.

The Anadolu Hospital has refused to release him until an outstanding bill of €34,376.05, or £25,260.54, is settled. 

Despite having travel insurance through the Post Office, due to the wrong date mistakenly put on one of the forms for a recent heart operation, the company is refusing to pay out. 

The couple had planned a two week holiday to celebrate Mr Kippin's only child, Danielle, 31, marrying Lee Knight, also 31, in June.

His daughter and son-in-law rushed to be by his side after he fell ill, but the family were forced to return without Mr Kippin.

In desperation a family friend set up a justgiving page to raise the necessary funds.

Including repatriation fees they are trying to raise £28,990. 

MORE TOP STORIES His wife and daughter were too distraught to speak, but Mr Knight, from near Bromley Road, told News Shopper: “He had just finished breakfast. He sat down on a sun lounger reading a paper.

“Diane thought he fell asleep so she tapped him with her paper, it's then she looked again and he was foaming at the mouth.

“Holiday makers came to try and save him around the pool, trying to do CPR.

“Then the hotel doctor took over and the ambulance came but I think he had another heart attack in the ambulance.

“I think he had brain damage from the lack of oxygen. He never woke up.”

Mr Knight, a drayman, said: “It was a big shock to the family as he was pretty healthy.

“Danielle's quite lost she just wants her dad back home to lay him to rest so she can start grieving.

“Even with our pictures from the wedding, our video, we can't watch them because she's too distressed because he just walked her down the aisle. It's too sad for her.”

Mr Knight, whose wife works at Sainsbury's, said their three children, Georgia, 15, Terri, 11 and Maddie, four, all “missed their grandfather dearly”.

News Shopper:

Ray and Danielle

He added: “I think it's unacceptable. Everyone around me is so distressed, it's just horrible.

“We just want to lay him to rest but we can't because they won't let us. It's ridiculous, the family can't grieve.

“Danielle was his world, he was such a family man. He loved a bit of football, supported Chelsea since he was a kid.

“He was a gentle giant, honestly probably one of the nicest men you could ever meet.”

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “We can confirm the death of a British national in Turkey on 26th August. We are liaising with the local authorities and providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time.”

The Post Office has been contacted for a comment. 

To donate to the justgiving page visit: crowdfunding.justgiving.com/gary-valentinefuller-1