Reported thoughts

Cold Turkey for Kumiko

Torquay or Turkey? A small difference in pronunciation but a big difference for Kumiko Tsuchida, a Japanese tourist in England. She ended up in Torquay when she was trying to get to Turkey.

It all started when Mrs Tsuchida, who had been visiting a friend in London, set out for Heathrow to catch a flight to Istanbul. Somewhere she took a wrong turn and ended up in Reading. Mrs Tsuchida, aged 40, does not speak much English. When she tried to ask directions she was misunderstood. Instead of being redirected to Heathrow, where her flight to Turkey was waiting, she was put on the 8:15 train to Torquay.

On arrival, her attempts to find Istanbul's famous Pera Palace Hotel fell on deaf ears. By the time the police found her it was two in the morning and she was wandering the streets. According to the police, she genuinely believed she was in Turkey. "She had been on the train so long she thought she was in Istanbul," said a police spokesman. "She even thought she had been through the Channel Tunnel."

Police called social services, who found a bed for Mrs Tsuchida in a local old people's home. The next day she was put in touch with Thomas Cook, who arranged for her to get back to Reading, where a Japanese embassy official met her. From there she was guided to Heathrow, and, finally, Turkey.