A STRANDED resident has called on the Government to not forget about Brits abroad.

Tony Evans is stuck some 4,000 miles away from his Wivenhoe home in Saudi Arabia.

The 61-year-old has been visiting the Gulf state on and off for several months, as he is working on a consultancy project with the Government and returned there at the beginning of the month.

But last Sunday, he and his colleagues were informed there would be restrictions on food service and the next day they were told all international flights had been cancelled for a fortnight.

Fortunately, the group were able to move from their base in the northern part of the country to the capital of Riyadh.

They are all are now based in a airport hotel waiting for planes to start running again.

The next flight scheduled for the UK is next week which the group are hoping will still run.

“We are keeping everything crossed that it goes ahead,” Mr Evans said.

“At the moment, there is a curfew between 7pm and 6am, but realistically, it isn’t going to impact us because were 30 or 40 miles from the city centre and there is not much public transport which is still going.

“I absolutely recognise there will be people in much worse situations than ourselves but we do just want to go home.

“With what is happening everywhere you just have visions of being here indefinitely.

“I can check in and speak to my wife every day and my two children who are grown up so there is contact but when something like this is happening you just want to be at home.”

At the moment, there have been 511 reported cases of coronavirus in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Evans said he believed the French Government was sending a flight to help repatriate its residents this week and that he had been in touch with MP Sir Bernard Jenkin’s office to see if they could help.

“They got back to me quickly and were helpful,” he said.

“My message to our Government would just be ‘Please, don’t forget about us’.

“There are more British people than just us here and I am sure there are Saudi people in the UK who want to get back.

“Truthfully, until I take off on that flight home I will not believe it is going to happen.

“I just have to hope that there is some logic to it being scheduled for that date and time.

“I realise we are fairly lucky to be cocooned in this hotel and I cannot speak highly enough of the Saudi people.

“They are incredibly hospitable.”