A Brit who was refused a flight to France is the latest holidaymaker to fall foul of a post-Brexit passport rule which has seen an unknown number blocked from flights.
Nathan Barnes was on his way to Limoges with his fiancé to visit family when he ran into trouble. The 31-year-old had checked in for the flight online and had gone through security and passport control. It was only when he got to the departure gate that he realised there was an issue.
The paramedic from Norwich was told that because his passport had been issued more than 10 years before - despite being valid in one sense - he could not fly. "They were very matter of fact about it, they just said 'sorry you can't board, off you pop'," Nathan told the BBC. "I was gutted, surprised really. We had checked in online and thought it was fine."
Have you fallen foul of the passport rule? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
Kirsty Hawes lost out on a £1000 holiday to Spain (Courtesy Kirsty Hawes / SWNS)
She found out at the airport that she couldn't fly (Courtesy Kirsty Hawes / SWNS)Before Brexit, Brits could travel up to and including the expiry date on their passports but new EU regulations now mean a UK passport holder wanting to visit Europe needs a passport which was issued within the previous 10 years.
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UK travellers used to be able to carry up to nine months from an old passport over on to a new one. But post-Brexit, that is no longer the case. Now EU countries will not accept passports issued more than 10 years ago.
Nathan is far from the only person who has had a holiday ruined after falling foul of the rule. Last year Kirsty Hawes, 28, told of how she had had booked an all-inclusive holiday to Mallorca, Spain, with her best friend through TUI and was sure to check her passport's expiry date before she left.
It was due to expire in March 2024 and she arrived at Luton airport on August 16. However, she was stunned to be told she couldn't fly because her passport was issued 10 years and one day ago.
Kirsty "had no idea" about this rule and said it wasn't made clear when booking through TUI - although admits it was in the small print on a confirmation email. She has been told she can't get a refund for her £1,050 holiday but wants to make other people aware of this new rule. She wants travel providers to change their booking pages to include the date of issue for the passport to flag up passports that would be invalid.
Kirsty, from Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, said: "They took our passports and said you can't fly. I thought it was a joke. But they were serious and said my passport was out of date. I said 'No it's not - it doesn't run out for seven months'. I was panicking and burst into tears. This was the one thing I was looking forward to all year."
A quirk in the passport issuing system means that some travel documents issued before a certain date are technically valid for more than ten years, but might not be accepted when entering certain countries.
If a UK passport was issued before September 2018, it could in fact be valid for up to 10 years and nine months. This is because before that the passport office used to add up to nine months from an old passport on to a new one. There are 32.1million passport applications made between this date, according to Home Office data.
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