A pensioner who booked a holiday just ten miles from her home found herself going on a 200-mile tour of the South-East.

Joan Johnson, 84, boarded a coach at Battle to take her to Eastbourne, where she had booked a five-day break for £120.

Mrs Johnson, who lives in the village of Ashburnham, near Battle, couldn't believe her ears when the driver of the Wallace Arnold coach said her journey would go via St Albans in Hertfordshire.

It took eight-and-a-half hours - when it would have only taken 20 minutes by car.

The retired cook said she had no choice but to stay on the coach and endure the massive detour, taking in almost the whole of the M25.

She said: "It took a whole day out of my life and at my age days are very precious. By the end of the journey my ankles were swollen, my knees were creaking, my back firmly bent and my head aching. I was thirsty, hungry, tired and suffering from coach lag.

"This was a journey I did not want, never asked for, did not expect and was not prepared for. I was not informed about it when I booked.

"If there had been a road accident all my family and friends would have thought, 'What on earth was she doing up there when she was supposed to be going to Eastbourne?'."

After getting a taxi from her home to Battle at 8.15am, Mrs Johnson finally turned up on the doorstep of the Burlington Hotel, Eastbourne, at 4.45pm.

After her holiday, Joan decided to get the bus home and paid £3.50 for the 45-minute trip.

She said: "I had a good time on this holiday when I eventually came to the following day. I go to Eastbourne once a month for the tea dances at the Winter Gardens and I love the town."

A spokesman for Wallace Arnold said: "Our policy is to pick people up and take them to an interchange point before then taking them to their holiday destination - in this case South Mimms. It would have explained this in the holiday brochure.

"Our journeys are organised to look after our customers from a pick-up point as close to their homes as possible. Running feeder coaches to our interchanges is the only way in which we can offer such value-for-money holidays.

"Mrs Johnson's holiday was unusual in that she was taking it so close to home and unfortunately it appears she was not advised by her travel agent she had the option to join the coach direct from Croydon, which would have saved her several hours' journeying."