Couple left £3k out of pocket & forced to miss holiday due to passport mistake

A COUPLE were left more than £3,000 out of pocket and forced to miss their holiday after making an easy mistake with their passport.

Christine Bentham and her husband John had booked a P&O cruise from Southampton along with their brother and sister-in-law.

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However, after arriving at the cruise terminal, the 67-year-old was told her passport was not valid.

Despite checking it had at least six months left on it (Europe only requires three months) new rules require passports to be no more than 10 years old.

Her passport start date was April 15, 2013, while the expiry was January 15, 2024.

The new rules mean all of the months between April and January no longer counted.

She told the Daily Star she was “not aware of the fact that any extra months that had been added from a previous passport that extended it beyond 10 years, would not be recognised”.

She said: “We lost our holiday, without being eligible for any refund or apparently being covered by our holiday insurance.”

Christine also added it had been “extremely upsetting” regarding the mistake.

She said she was concerned it could happen to lots of other people too.

The UK Foreign Office currently states: “Your passport must be:

• issued less than 10 years before the date you enter the country (check the ‘date of issue’)
• valid for at least 3 months after the day you plan to leave (check the ‘expiry date’)

“You must check your passport meets these requirements before you travel.

“If your passport was issued before 1 October 2018, extra months may have been added to its expiry date.”

Christine isn’t the only person this has happened to.

Last month, teacher Rosie Simpson was banned from boarding her flight to Paris for a similar reason.

She told the Guardian: “I had no idea of the 10-year rule. I’d checked the expiry date, and my passport had eight months remaining. What happened at the boarding gate was absolutely awful.”

And even travel journalist Jenny Southan made the same mistake, and was left £700 out of pocket after being stopped from travelling.

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