St Brelade Constable Steve Pallett was due to represent Jersey at the handover of the Dance Word Cup ceremony in Bucharest, Romania, but realised as his plane was about to land that he had in fact flown to the Hungarian capital, Budapest, instead.
Mr Pallett said that an ‘administrative error’ led to the wrong flight being booked, leaving him stranded 400 miles away from his intended destination and caused him to miss the handover event where he was due to address scores of spectators and competitors in advance of the competition coming to Jersey.
Instead, the Constable, who has a special responsibility for sport in the Island, made a brief stay in Hungary before turning straight back round and returning to Jersey.
The journey, which was booked by a civil servant, cost nearly £1,000.
Mr Pallett has apologised to taxpayers for the mistake.
It is not the first time he has been at the centre of a travelling mishap. In 2013, while on an official trip to the Falkland Islands, Mr Pallett’s luggage got lost in Chile meaning he had to attend black-tie conferences in a pair of shorts before he finally managed to borrow a suit from the manager at his hotel.
Explaining the Budapest/Bucharest mix-up, Mr Pallett said he realised his error ‘minutes’ before landing.
‘I fell asleep on the flight and then when I woke up I had one of those, you know, light-bulb moments and I looked up and saw the monitor with a map on above my head and I could see Budapest and Bucharest a few inches apart and thought “this isn’t right”,’ he said.
‘I did not need a day trip to Budapest. In fact, I needed it like needles in my eye.’
There is an entire website dedicated to the repeated confusion between Bucharest and Budapest – which was set up by concerned Romanians.
The site mentions several famous people who have erred, including Metallica and Lenny Kravitz, as well as tales from confused travellers.
‘I am also disappointed because of the Dance World Cup because I was supposed to be over there and I was supposed to collect the flag.’
The Education Department is now looking into the error and Mr Pallett said procedures have to be put in place to prevent a repeat incident.
‘The department apologised and I have to accept that and I will not let anyone out to dry,’ he added.
Wrong island
Last year Blackheath women’s rugby team travelled to Jersey, having intended to fly to Guernsey for a pre-season game.
Vice-captain Anna Fleming, who booked the flights on behalf of the team, said she realised her error weeks before they arrived but was too scared to tell her 14 teammates.
Once they landed they eventually caught a ferry across the water and faced the Sarnian side. Blackheath won 46-10.
Missing Constable
Former St Mary’s Constable Edwin Godel once travelled to India for a Jersey Overseas Aid trip.
However, while at a train station Mr Godel reportedly hopped on the wrong locomotive and was subsequently missing for around three days.
