Brits are being issue a warning to check their passports after a family missed their £3,000 holiday because of a little-known rule. The Gurd family believed they were all set for their trip to the Algarve, in Portugal, with their documents all in order.
But the family told the BBC they ended up having to cancel the trip because of a passport issue, thanks to a rule being enforced in some European countries following Brexit. Mum Nina Gurd was turned away from the flight - even though she believed her passport was OK.
Nina's passport is due to expire in February 2023 - well more than the three months to expiry date some countries require, Wales Online reports. But at the airport, she was told the passport would still not be valid in Portugal, and that the expiry date was meaningless.
Nina said: "The lady at Bournemouth Airport said it needs to be within 10 years of the issue date." Nina's passport was originally issued on May 29, 2012, meaning it would have been due to expire next month.
But when she renewed it in 2012 that was done early - meaning nine months were added to the document, giving it a new expiry date of February 28, 2023. Nina, husband John and their sons Jack, Harry and Charlie, went home instead of to Portugal.
Nina said: "When we were booking our holiday, we were only ever asked for our passport numbers and the expiry dates, nothing else. But the expiry date is apparently meaningless."
Portugal is one of 26 European countries within the Schengen Area of free movement. Post-Brexit, some EU countries in the Schengen Area are insisting passports must be no more than 10 years old.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the BBC that the advice published on its website warns travellers they may face problems if they have a passport that lasts longer than 10 years. Nina added: "We've got to get the message out there that actually the expiry date on your passport is meaningless."
