A stranded passenger rests on his suitcase at Beijing's international airport

The grounding of all non-emergency flights across the UK has forced the family of a Shropshire man to postpone his funeral as his son is stranded in Tenerife.

Philip Durnell, 47, has been unable to get back to Britain for the service originally scheduled for today because of the no-fly order.

His family eventually decided to postpone the service until further notice after all attempts to get him home in time failed.

His father, Jack, of Dorrington, died on April 9 at the age of 85. The funeral was to have been held at 11am today at St Mary Magdalene Church in Bridgnorth.

Philip, who lives near Preston, Lancashire, was already on holiday with his wife, two children and in-laws at the time of the tragedy and he tried to get a flight home when the news was broken to him.

His efforts were thwarted, however, as all the flights were fully booked, largely as a result of the Easter holiday rush.

His sister, Wendy Farlow, 43, of Longnor, near Shrewsbury, said he and the family had been trying desperately to get him home but all efforts had come to nothing.

Miss Farlow, who has two sisters and another brother, said: “We have tried absolutely everything. We have looked at hiring a yacht, any type of boat, getting a train, Eurostar, you name it. Even if you had the money to hire a Lear jet you couldn’t get one because everything has been booked.

“The nearest we have managed is to book one seat on a flight into Exeter for Philip tomorrow. That is still quite a way away from home and it would still leave his wife and family in Tenerife.

“We don’t even know whether the flight ban will have been lifted by then.The whole situation is so frustrating. We had no alternative but to postpone dad’s funeral until after Philip is home.”