A dog lover must drive her Great Dane 2,500 miles to visit her son in Tenerife - because the giant pooch is too BIG for a plane.

Sam, 49, wanted to fly three-year-old rescue dog Harold, along with her two other dogs Ellie and Pillie, to see her son Danny, 20, a DJ, who lives on the island.

But she was forced to drastically change her plans when Monarch Airlines told her Harold - who weighs 13st and stands 4ft tall - was too big for the plane's special pet crate.

Now Sam is facing a mammoth 2,483-mile drive across France and Spain before boarding two ferries to the holiday island where she plans to spend three months.

Instead of a four-and-a-half hour flight from Manchester Airport to Tenerife, she now faces a mammoth 63-hour trek which will cost around £2,000 in ferry fees, tolls and fuel.

Care assistant Sam, from Hereford, said: "Harold is huge. Whenever we take him out for a walk, people stop and take photos of him. He's like a celebrity.

"He's nearly caused accidents because people are staring at him when they're driving and they have nearly gone into the back of someone in front of them.

"I've been wanting to see my son who works in Tenerife and spend three months with him so I didn't want to put my dogs in kennels for that long.

"I was pretty shocked when the plane company said Harold was too big for them but apparently they don't have a pet crate big enough for him.

"I still desperately want to see my son so the only option I've got is to drive.

"I looked on the internet and worked out it would take me 63 hours if I drove non-stop so really it'll take me four days or more to get there with stops and breaks to give the dogs walks."

Sam, who even sold her car because it was too small for Harold, is now trying to buy a motor big enough for her monster trip.

She plans to drive from her home in Hereford to Folkestone where she will catch the Channel Tunnel to France before driving down through Spain.

She will then have to catch a 34-hour ferry from Huelva Las Palmas to Gran Canaria before boarding a four-hour ferry onto Tenerife.

Sam added: "I was researching taking animals onto a flight, and I called but when I told the woman how big Harold's box would be, she told me there was no way he could fly.

"I asked if we could try and put him in a bigger box, but she said they didn't allow it.

"It's not the airline's fault but it does mean I've got a hell of a drive to go and see my son."

Sam is planning to set off on her mega road trip as soon as she buys a car big enough for Harold and her other dogs.

A spokesperson for Monarch Airlines said: "The maximum height any cage can be for an animal is 110cm (43in), otherwise the cage will not fit through the cargo door.

"Unfortunately, this Great Dane is too tall to fit into a cage, and animals need to be comfortable during transit.

"We love transporting animals and do so for a lot of our customers, but he is physically too high to fit into a cage."