I seriously question the competence of a station manager(s) who was unable to beg, borrow or steal a suitable tow-bar from either LHR, FRA or AMS and have it loaded into the hold of the next commercial flight, should have had one in EDI within 2-3 hours (been there, done that).
Of course if there was no station manager and all handling supervision was outsourced, you get what you pay for.