Sarah Walsh, 64, was left stranded at the Easyjet check-in desk at Gatwick on Sunday, February 19, when she was told her passport wasn’t valid.
She had spent £1,000 on an all-inclusive trip to Fuerteventura with her friends after recently divorcing her husband and moving house.
The woman from Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, was looking forward to catching some winter sun only for a post-Brexit rule to change her plans and leave her waving goodbye to her friends.
Travellers need to be aware of this new passport rule if they’re travelling abroad later this year.
Since the UK left the European Union, Spain has implemented strict new rules on British travellers.
Check your passport expiry dates and the entry requirements for the country you’re flying to
Certain countries require people to have several months still left on their passports before they enter.
When it comes to the European Union (EU), most countries specify that your passport needs to be valid for at least three months after the day you plan to leave the country.
Meanwhile, the likes of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) requires that your passport is valid for at least six months from the day you enter the country.
Your passport also has to be less than 10 years old on the day that you enter.
This is due to an old system that allowed you to renew your passport and add the months that were left on top of its validity so you could hypothetically have a passport that was 10 years and 4 months old.
postbrexitcompliance.com 