A best man who was denied boarding for a flight to Poland for his best friend's stag do because his passport was three days out of date managed to renew it in less than 12 hours and make it to the party
James Crane, 35, had meticulously planned his best mate's stag do in Krakow, which included a "fancy" steak dinner, bar crawl, shooting range, vodka tasting, VIP night club, and boat party. However, he was informed at Stansted Airport on June 1 that he couldn't board the plane due to his expired ID.
Unaware of the changes in passport rules since Brexit, James, also known as Crano, decided not to give up and miss his best friend's bachelor party. The next morning, he showed up at the passport office in Peterborough without an appointment, determined to argue his case.
He was issued a new passport the same day after convincing security to let him in despite not having booked an appointment for that day and only having a passport photo in his pocket.
"Because we left the EU and Brexit, the new rule is your passport can't be more than 10 years old," James explained. "I renewed my old passport early and it was issued on May 28, 2013, so if you work it out, my passport was 10 years old and three days."
Renewing a UK passport usually takes around 10 weeks according to the Government's website or people can pay £193.50 for the Online Premium Service, but still have to book an appointment for, at the earliest, "two days from when you apply." James, from Colchester, who said he was "in it to win it," immediately booked a last-minute flight to Krakow for £480 and went straight to the nightclub to surprise his best friend Ben French, 35, who did not think he was going to make it.
"I keep getting messages saying how did you do it?" he told PA Real Life. "You look online and everyone is saying it's impossible to just turn up and get a passport. But my wife Daisy nudged me a little bit to just try it. She said 'You've got the gift of the gab, what have you got to lose?'"
The group of 10 arrived at Stansted Airport at around 5.30 am on June 1 ready for three days of shenanigans in Poland's second-largest city to celebrate Ben getting married. We got through security, dragged my mate (Ben) into the toilets and put him in a Hulk Hogan outfit with a nice tight vest and cycling shorts," he said.
"We'd been having a laugh and were probably four or five pints down now," said James.
"Rushed to the gate, and I made sure everyone was going through the last check."
James thought one of the boys was playing a prank on him when he was asked to "please stand aside" after handing over his passport and ticket just before boarding.
"I automatically thought 'Right, who's playing a prank on me? Ben, what have you done? You must be having a laugh,'" he said.
"She says, 'no, seriously you need to come with me your passport is out of date.'"
With no other option, James waved goodbye to his mates and started frantically calling the passport office while waiting for his father, Peter, 72, to come and collect him.
"The passport office said they no longer do emergency appointments but I found this Twitter page called UK Fast Track & Premium Passport Appointments, which tells you when an appointment comes up at different offices," he said. Unfortunately, the next available appointment was not until June 6 in Dundee, 450 miles away.
"By the time I got home to Colchester, all the boys were obviously there now and texting me a few pictures of them enjoying themselves and I was absolutely gutted."
James was ready to throw in the towel, but his wife suggested he drive to the passport office in Peterborough first thing in the morning and "give it a go." Those starting to queue up outside were clutching an A4 folder filled with documents, but James only had a passport photo in his pocket.
He had also booked an appointment for June 16, thinking that regardless of whether he made it to Poland, he would be needing a new passport sooner rather than later. This would actually prove to complicate matters.
"Not knowing what to say, James started 'blabbing to the bouncers' about getting the dates mixed up and thought it was 'game over' when he mentioned being turned away at the airport and was suddenly waved through. He was then told his fast-track application could not be processed because he already had an appointment booked - two weeks later.
"'He said you can cancel it, but you have to call up the passport office,' James explained.
"'I'm thinking 'Well I'm at the passport office, can't I just speak to someone, you know how it is.'
"His heart sank when he called the number and was told cancelling his appointment would have to be done in writing and could take up to five working days. 'I was a bit cheeky and said 'Oh I told the woman at the desk about this and she said you would cancel it for me - this is not good enough'.
"'She said 'Oh let me speak to my manager' and then said they would cancel it.'"
It was not until 4 pm that James, who had paid the premium £193.50 fee, finally received his brand new, valid passport, and started hunting for a flight to Poland.
His wife and her friends had been rooting for James to get his passport and had created a WhatsApp group called Get Crano to Krakow. "I was absolutely buzzing," he said. "I had text the boys saying look, I've tried everything to get out there, but it's not going to happen." James paid a heavy price for the only feasible flight which would get him to Krakow in time.
"I found one at 9 o'clock for about £130 single but when I went to press the button it said tickets sold out - you couldn't make this up. There was one at 8 o'clock from Stansted for £480 which is a lot of money but I'm in it now."
James touched down in Krakow a few hours later and headed out to meet "the boys" who were celebrating at a nightclub. "It was a good laugh talking about this in the best man speech," he said. "You can't get a better best mate can you?"
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