SAS Veteran Airlifts UK Families from War-Torn Dubai for £2,500

A Veteran’s Efforts to Rescue Britons from Dubai

A former SAS Gulf War veteran is now helping British holidaymakers escape the chaos of Dubai. Des Steel, a 64-year-old Manchester-based businessman, runs an international security company and has been using his network of contacts and drivers to get stranded Brits out of the city. His services come at a cost of £2,500 per person, but for many, it’s a necessary expense.

Mr. Steel has already repatriated 35 people, with the last group—a family of three—paying £2,500 each. He picks up individuals from their hotels and drives them to the borders of Oman or Saudi Arabia, where local drivers take over. These drivers then transport the passengers to the country’s international airport, where tickets have been arranged by Mr. Steel’s fixers.

Mr. Steel explained that he understands the fear people are experiencing in Dubai. “If it was me, I’d pour myself a Pina Colada and go out onto my hotel balcony and wait for it to blow over, which it will,” he said. “But I understand that people are worried and when rockets are going off around you, you want to get home.”

He added that his escape route is very safe, noting that the chances of one of his vehicles being hit by a rogue drone are a million to one. The cost of each “ticket” home varies, with the biggest expense being the drivers, who sometimes charge more than $1,000 to get a carload of passengers to the airport. However, Brits who take up his offer pay the standard airfare home, with Mr. Steel and his fixers taking a cut of the overall price. This arrangement works out to be tens of thousands of pounds cheaper than some holidaymakers have paid to get home through other means.

Stranded Tourists and Expats in Dubai

The situation in Dubai has led to widespread panic among tourists and expats. With approximately 14,000 UK citizens having flagged to authorities that they want to leave the desert city, there is a palpable sense of desperation. Iran is believed to have launched almost as many drones and missiles at Dubai and the United Arab Emirates as it has at Israel, with even the iconic Palm Jumeirah hotel reportedly on fire.

The Daily Mail spoke to several stranded tourists and expats trying to escape the warzone. Among them was Paul Hart, who had been stuck in Dubai since the fighting began. He couldn’t travel to Oman for the British Government’s repatriation flight due to his wife’s medical condition. “My wife suffers from Crohn’s disease and also has occipital neuralgia, so she needs close proximity to toilets and things, so it’s not an option to travel to Oman,” he said.

Mr. Hart described how he was on a plane that was supposed to depart on February 28, only to be told the airspace was closed. “After four hours, we were able to depart the plane. Fortunately, we were able to get a taxi and return to our original hotel, because the alternative they provided was booked up within seconds.”

Another stranded tourist was Sue King, a 66-year-old retiree from Newquay, Cornwall. She had been staying with her daughter and family in Dubai when the first wave of missiles and drones struck. “It was very frightening,” she recalled. “We heard the bangs and saw some flashes from interceptions, but luckily my grandchildren are very young, so they didn’t pick up on what was going on.”

Ms. King had originally planned to fly home on Sunday, but that was never going to happen after the war began on Saturday. She tried to catch a British Airways repatriation flight but found it cancelled. “I’m now on standby for two different Emirates flights to Heathrow, one at 2pm and another at 2am, so I’m just crossing my fingers that I can get on one of them.”

In fact, despite Dubai airport’s live departures board showing Ms. King’s “cancelled” British Airways flight, it was never even scheduled, according to a BA spokesman, who said: “We aren’t operating from Dubai at the moment.”