What the French said to British schoolchildren with swine flu
British schoolchildren with swine flu were treated like 'dangerous criminals' before being kicked out of France.
The 14-year-olds and their teachers were forced to wear surgical masks and shoes while being treated by medics in anti-contamination suits.
They were sworn at by local people and told to 'go home to your disease-ridden country'.
'We were treated appallingly,' said a member of the party from Lea Manor High School, in Luton.
'It was as if we were dangerous criminals. The French wanted us back across the Channel as quickly as possible. It was horrendous.'
The Lea Manor school party had arrived at a chateau near Bayeux, Normandy, on Saturday.
Some of the 30 pupils - paying ?150 each for the trip - and their teachers began showing flu symptoms and six were diagnosed positive by local doctors.
On Sunday doctors and other medical staff cordoned off the chateau before putting on white contamination suits to treat the party.
Extreme measures: Researchers wear protective gear as they study swine flu at a laboratory in Lyon, France. A group of British pupils claim they were made to feel like 'criminals' after contracting the virus in Normandy
One girl said: 'I went to borrow a hairdryer from my friend when, all of sudden, people with masks and suits were telling her roommate to go with them. It looked like a scene out of ET.
'They were wearing white suits with funny blue shoes and masks and carrying suitcases. Someone said they looked like forensic people.
'The roommate was screaming for her friend, getting very upset. She was crying. I was really scared. It was happening really quickly.'
Early on Monday the French authorities ordered the whole party on to a coach back to Calais - an eight-hour journey in sweltering heat, with all the curtains closed. They were then put on a London-bound Eurostar train.
The pupil said: 'We were given five minutes to pack and leave. We didn't even have time to go to the loo. Some girls were still wearing swimming costumes under their clothes on the trip back.
'We were told to close the curtains on the bus because we were wearing masks and the French would have been shocked. We were even chased by French people at a service station. They were shouting at our teachers because they'd seen our masks.'
Four pupils and two teachers were confirmed as having swine flu. One teacher was too sick to travel and remains in Normandy.
Last night a parent at the 1,100-pupil school said: 'I gather there was complete chaos. No one stood up to the French even though they reduced the children to tears. We had a confirmed case of swine flu at the school earlier this month, which begs the question of why they were sent abroad.'
People wear face masks to protect themselves from swine flu as they emerge from Tottenham Court tube
Scaremongering: French officials have issued warnings that Britain is plagued by swine flu, and people are dying regularly from the virus
Headmistress Christine Lenihan posted a brief statement on the school website, saying: 'In the last few days a small number of our students became unwell during a school trip to Normandy which unfortunately necessitated an earlier return than had been planned.'
France has so far had no swine flu deaths while Britain is the worst-hit country in Europe and has the fourth-worst epidemic in the world.
Latest figures show there have been fewer than 800 cases in France, compared with around 10,000 in Britain.
French health minister Roselyne Bachelot says the swine flu threat is 'moderate'
French health minister Roselyne Bachelot says the swine flu threat is 'moderate'
France has bought 94 million doses of flu vaccine but officials say the threat is limited and Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot has said the severity of the virus remains 'moderate'.
Despite this, French authorities have been issuing increasingly dramatic warnings about the situation in the UK.
There is rising concern about allowing some 120,000 schoolchildren, French and British, to make the traditional annual cross-Channel journeys for exchange trips or to study at summer language schools.
A number of other British pupils with swine flu have been placed in quarantine near Paris, amid complaints that officials were behaving 'as if it is the plague'.
Some 47 youngsters, most of them Spanish but including some from England, were being kept at La Salle Saint-Nicolas Catholic school in Issy-les-Moulineaux.
Headmaster Henri Welschinger said: 'They're French language students aged 15 to 18. None are in a worrying condition. People are behaving as if it is the plague, but it's only the flu.'
As in Normandy, the local council in Issy has handed out surgical masks to some 150 visiting teenagers, including Russians and Americans.
British schoolchildren with swine flu were treated like 'dangerous criminals' before being kicked out of France.
The 14-year-olds and their teachers were forced to wear surgical masks and shoes while being treated by medics in anti-contamination suits.
They were sworn at by local people and told to 'go home to your disease-ridden country'.
'We were treated appallingly,' said a member of the party from Lea Manor High School, in Luton.
'It was as if we were dangerous criminals. The French wanted us back across the Channel as quickly as possible. It was horrendous.'
The Lea Manor school party had arrived at a chateau near Bayeux, Normandy, on Saturday.
Some of the 30 pupils - paying ?150 each for the trip - and their teachers began showing flu symptoms and six were diagnosed positive by local doctors.
On Sunday doctors and other medical staff cordoned off the chateau before putting on white contamination suits to treat the party.
Extreme measures: Researchers wear protective gear as they study swine flu at a laboratory in Lyon, France. A group of British pupils claim they were made to feel like 'criminals' after contracting the virus in Normandy
One girl said: 'I went to borrow a hairdryer from my friend when, all of sudden, people with masks and suits were telling her roommate to go with them. It looked like a scene out of ET.
'They were wearing white suits with funny blue shoes and masks and carrying suitcases. Someone said they looked like forensic people.
'The roommate was screaming for her friend, getting very upset. She was crying. I was really scared. It was happening really quickly.'
Early on Monday the French authorities ordered the whole party on to a coach back to Calais - an eight-hour journey in sweltering heat, with all the curtains closed. They were then put on a London-bound Eurostar train.
The pupil said: 'We were given five minutes to pack and leave. We didn't even have time to go to the loo. Some girls were still wearing swimming costumes under their clothes on the trip back.
'We were told to close the curtains on the bus because we were wearing masks and the French would have been shocked. We were even chased by French people at a service station. They were shouting at our teachers because they'd seen our masks.'
Four pupils and two teachers were confirmed as having swine flu. One teacher was too sick to travel and remains in Normandy.
Last night a parent at the 1,100-pupil school said: 'I gather there was complete chaos. No one stood up to the French even though they reduced the children to tears. We had a confirmed case of swine flu at the school earlier this month, which begs the question of why they were sent abroad.'
People wear face masks to protect themselves from swine flu as they emerge from Tottenham Court tube
Scaremongering: French officials have issued warnings that Britain is plagued by swine flu, and people are dying regularly from the virus
Headmistress Christine Lenihan posted a brief statement on the school website, saying: 'In the last few days a small number of our students became unwell during a school trip to Normandy which unfortunately necessitated an earlier return than had been planned.'
France has so far had no swine flu deaths while Britain is the worst-hit country in Europe and has the fourth-worst epidemic in the world.
Latest figures show there have been fewer than 800 cases in France, compared with around 10,000 in Britain.
French health minister Roselyne Bachelot says the swine flu threat is 'moderate'
French health minister Roselyne Bachelot says the swine flu threat is 'moderate'
France has bought 94 million doses of flu vaccine but officials say the threat is limited and Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot has said the severity of the virus remains 'moderate'.
Despite this, French authorities have been issuing increasingly dramatic warnings about the situation in the UK.
There is rising concern about allowing some 120,000 schoolchildren, French and British, to make the traditional annual cross-Channel journeys for exchange trips or to study at summer language schools.
A number of other British pupils with swine flu have been placed in quarantine near Paris, amid complaints that officials were behaving 'as if it is the plague'.
Some 47 youngsters, most of them Spanish but including some from England, were being kept at La Salle Saint-Nicolas Catholic school in Issy-les-Moulineaux.
Headmaster Henri Welschinger said: 'They're French language students aged 15 to 18. None are in a worrying condition. People are behaving as if it is the plague, but it's only the flu.'
As in Normandy, the local council in Issy has handed out surgical masks to some 150 visiting teenagers, including Russians and Americans.
Comment