Schools and businesses across Shropshire were today assessing the impact the Icelandic ash cloud, which has grounded flights and stranded 150,000 passengers Britons abroad, has had on the county. The grounding order has now been extended to 1am tomorrow.

Teachers and pupils from across Shropshire have been caught up in the chaos and one county trade chief warned absenteeism was also set to hit business.

Education chiefs were today trying to find out exactly how many pupils and teachers were stranded and unable to start the new term.

The NASUWT teaching union has urged schools not to penalise teachers who failed to return after the Easter holiday.

Mal Yale, capital and facilities manager at Telford & Wrekin Council, and Tim Smith, assistant director for children and young people’s service at Shropshire Council, said they were trying to determine how many schools and children service providers were affected by staff being unable to return.

Richard Sheehan, managing director of the Shropshire Chamber of Commer- ce, said: “There is a significant amount of money being spent by holidaymakers getting home by any means necessary over land and sea and this is money that may have been spent in the county and now can’t be.”

The disruption to passengers globally is likely to continue for at least another two weeks and airlines alone are facing a massive bill.

A party of 72 staff and pupils from Hadley Learning Community in Telford, who should have flown home from Milan to Bristol on Saturday, got a double-decker coach instead and arrived back in Telford last night.

Thomas Adams School in Wem was without its headteacher Neil Hemming today as he is stranded in Spain.

Roger Appleby, from Shawbirch, Telford, managed to get a flight from Orlando, Florida, at 11pm last Friday, UK time, and touched down at Prestwick at 7am the following day.

Steve Bowyer, of Telford, was not so fortunate after jetting out to Orlando three weeks ago to get married. He was due to start a new job today but is stuck in Florida until April 26.

Rachelle Barnet, assistant manager of Hadley Park Hotel in Telford, was due to fly back from Florida tomorrow but is hoping for a flight on Wednesday to get her back in time for the Telford & Wrekin Mayoral Ball on Friday.

By Simon Hardy