Mum stuck in Turkey for seven weeks after trashing hotel room offers £10k to get home
Georgia Harrison was given a travel ban after she was arrested while trying to leave the Lexia Hotel in Antalya after damaging the room.
A mum says she has been stranded in Turkey for nearly two months after being hit with a travel ban following a hotel room incident — and now she's offered £10,000 in a desperate bid to return home to her daughter.
Georgia Harrison, 32, from Whitworth, near Rochdale, was arrested alongside her partner on May 7 while trying to leave the Lexia Hotel in Antalya. The couple had been celebrating her boyfriend's new dental work when, according to Georgia, she blacked out and accidentally smashed a shower screen during a drunken episode.
Georgia admits she tried to leave the hotel without declaring the damage, but was later arrested, thrown in a cell, and hauled before a court. She claims officials ordered her to pay £15,000 for the damage and for 'resisting arrest' — a charge she strongly denies — before any travel restrictions would be lifted.
Seven weeks on, Georgia remains stuck in Turkey without her 12-year-old daughter, who is back home in the UK. Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, she said: 'I got drunk and somehow smashed the shower screen. Worst mistake of my life. I know I did wrong and I regret being so stupid, but I need to get home to my daughter.
'I was scared and not thinking straight. Yes, I tried to get away, and it was the wrong thing to do. But maybe if I hadn't, I wouldn't be in this mess. I know only I'm to blame, but I'm trying everything I can to get back.'
Georgia claims she was initially denied a lawyer, signed a court document she didn't fully understand, and has been unable to access her prescribed medication — which she only had a five-day supply of for what was meant to be a short break.
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Despite making multiple offers to settle the matter — most recently offering £10,000, which she says is all she has — Georgia says Turkish authorities have not accepted any deal. She's attempted to flee the country on a plane, by ferry, and even during a day trip to Greece, but each time has been blocked due to the travel ban.
Posting on Facebook, Georgia said: 'I've offered them £10,000 because it's all I've got, but still no closer. I just don't understand how a court prosecutor can admit the ban was wrongly placed and still nothing changes.'
She added: 'All I want is to get home to my child. People ask why I didn't just pay the money at the start — it's because my lawyer kept saying, 'hold on, we'll sort it'. But nothing is working. I'm exhausted, I'm scared, and I don't know what else to do.'
A GoFundMe page has now been launched to help cover Georgia's legal and living costs while she remains stuck abroad.
The Foreign Office has been contacted for comment.
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