I MOVED to Cornwall from Scotland in October last year with my wife and three-year-old daughter, originally for one year to study for a post-graduate qualification at University College, Falmouth.

Cornish people are so friendly, relaxed and accommodating and have made us feel so welcome, that we very quickly decided that we would like to settle in Falmouth after my course finished on August 31.

Before getting down to the realities of life, like finding full-time employment again, we decided to treat ourselves to a family holiday in Spain. It was to be our first holiday abroad as a family, and was to coincide with my birthday. We booked the holiday nearly six months ago in order to secure cheap flights, and have been slowly but surely getting more and more excited about going.

We were due to leave on September 3 and set out at 7.30am on our carefully planned public transport route: buses from Falmouth to Truro, Truro to Newquay, and Newquay to Newquay Airport, where we would fly to Gatwick before flying on to Barcelona.

Unfortunately, the bus on the last leg of our journey did not get us to the airport ten minutes before check-in closed, as time-tabled, but arrived just as check-in was closing. We rushed to the check-in desk, waited for the man in front of us to be checked-in, and were then told: "Dispatch closed four minutes ago. You can fly, but we can't take your luggage."

I pleaded: "But we were only two, three at the most, minutes late. If we'd just been checked in straight away, we'd be on the plane already. I accept we are to blame as we are late, but we were only two or three minutes late."

The reply: "It's not our fault."

So with my daughter in tears, we left the airport and made the three-hour, three bus journey back to our home in Falmouth. Six hundred pounds in air fares and a visa (my wife does not have a British passport) wasted and a first family holiday abroad gone: all because of two to three minutes.

As Cornwall continues to expand, develop and grow economically, I hope our experience at Newquay Airport is not a reflection of the sign of the times and an indication of what to expect more often in the future.

Be warned, any and all of you who intend to fly from Newquay Airport.

David Bate, Tresawle Road, Falmouth