The 25-year-old, who lives in Whitefield, said: “I came to the conference to present some of my research. I was supposed to fly back to Birmingham with Ryanair on April 18.

“But as the conference was underway, people were talking about flights being cancelled due to the ash.”

Daniel’s flight wasn’t for a few days so at first he didn’t take any notice of the rumours.

But as more and more people became increasingly stressed with the situation he checked to see if his flight has been affected.

“It was cancelled but the airline were fantastic and I could rebook for a later flight for free,” said Daniel.

However, when he found no available flights, Daniel became worried that his life back home would be disrupted.

He explained: “I have commitments working with people within a mental health trust and I volunteer for Childline so I have had to cancel both jobs for the next week.”

Yesterday, Daniel managed to take a flight from Malaga, where he luckily had some family to stay with, to Bristol.

He said: “I’m looking forward to getting home to see my girlfriend and family in Manchester.”