Four friends from the Harborough area are battling to get home after becoming trapped in South Africa by the coronavirus crisis

Four friends from the Harborough area are battling to get home after becoming trapped in South Africa by the coronavirus crisis.

George Lathey, 79, Bill Lang, 72, Barry Jones, 66, and Dave Orme, 61, are holed up at a small tourist hotel in Gauteng Province 6,000 miles away.

The four close pals flew out to Johannesburg on Wednesday March 11 on a four-week motorbike tour of southern Africa after plotting the dream trip for months.

But George, of Husbands Bosworth, Bill, of Welford, Barry, of Shearsby, and Dave, of Gumley, have now been caught up in a tough three-week nationwide lockdown.

Chris Heaton-Harris, the MP for Daventry, has vowed to fight to bring them back to the UK after being alerted by the Harborough Mail.

Worried Rod Lane, 70, of Naseby, is a good friend of all four men and he told the Mail: “I’ve known these guys for getting on for 50 years and I feel so sorry for them.

“It’s one thing being locked down here in your own home.

“But they are stuck thousands of miles away and have no idea when they’re going to make it back to their loved ones.”

Rod, who’s run a contract work business with Bill since 1991, added: “George, Bill, Barry and Dave have forked out up to £7,000 each to go out there on their dream trip.

“It was a once in a lifetime holiday.

“And, unfortunately, it’s turned into a total nightmare.

“I’m pulling out all the stops to bring them back safe and sound because none of us have lived through times like these before.”

Married to Pamela, he said he’d been due to go on the spectacular adventure break as well but was forced to pull out.

“They were aiming to bike through seven countries in southern Africa, including Namibia, and head up to the world-famous Victoria Falls,” said Rod.

“They’re all experienced, well-seasoned travellers and I’d have loved to have gone with them.

“But I had to drop out due to work and other commitments.”

He said the British group’s staying at the Emerald Guesthouse in Kempton Park, near Johannesburg.

“They’ve been staying there for about a week.

“They are being given scrambled eggs and a few beans and tomatoes for breakfast at 7am each morning,” said Rod.

“And then they are being fed tea early at about 3.30pm-4pm because we think the staff have to get home early under a curfew.

“So they are starving by the time they go to bed.

“There are about 35 tourists staying there but they’re the only Brits.

“Bill managed to call me on Monday.

“He’s got a real sense of humour usually but it was the worst I’ve ever heard him.

“He sounded very glum and concerned.

“Poor Bill fears the situation will continue to get worse with the coronavirus in South Africa – and he wonders if he’ll ever see England again.

“They’ve been trying to book flights back but they are just being cancelled all the time.

“It’s just so uncertain.

“So I’m just desperate to get the four guys back here.

“They’re all in pretty good shape but none of them are spring chickens any more.”

Thanking the Mail for passing on the men’s details, MP Chris Heaton-Harris said: “I’ll do all I can to fetch these local men home.

“I’ve got 27 constituents that I know of stranded overseas on top of these four.

“I’ll call them as soon as I can and get the ball rolling.”

The Conservative MP added: “We’ll have to liaise with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the British High Commission in Pretoria.

“We will also, of course, have to work with the South African government to try to repatriate these men as soon as possible.”

A FCO spokeswoman said: “We recognise British tourists abroad are finding it difficult to return to the UK because of the unprecedented international travel and domestic restrictions that are being introduced around the world – often with very little or no notice.

“The Government has partnered with a number of airlines who have committed to work together to get Brits back to the UK and up to £75 million has been made available for charter flights where commercial options are no longer available.

“We’ll continue working around the clock to bring people home.”