A man visiting his family in the UK was put on the wrong plane to fly back home to Poland - ending up 1,000 miles away in Malta, The Daily Mail reports.

Pawel Lawreniuk, 75, realised he had landed in the wrong county when he asked a bemused taxi driver to take him home only to discover he did not speak a word of Polish.

The widower was booked on to the 6.50am Ryanair flight to Gdansk from Leeds-Bradford airport on Sunday, January 6.

He had flown to the UK to see his daughter for two weeks at Christmas.

But Lawreniuk went aboard the wrong flight.

The plane actually took him to Malta International Airport, with retired engineer Lawreniuk, who does not speak English, none the wiser.

Lawreniuk was shocked to discover he was in the wrong country while attempting to order a taxi after being told by staff at a tourist information desk: 'I am sorry sir but I don't speak Polish.'

It meant he was stranded with little money, a phone which didn't work in Malta and no grasp of the local language.

Luckily, a Polish-speaking woman overheard the worrying conversation and was on hand to contact his daughter and book him onto the correct flight that same day.