A gutted Scottish teenager was barred from boarding a flight for a family holiday despite his passport being valid for five more months.
Excited 15-year-old Zak Schoneville was all set to jet out to the holiday island of Tenerife on Monday - only to be thwarted at the very last minute.
Fully packed, he rocked up at the airport with parents Lisa and Neil together with little sister Lily, 13, at 4am ahead of the 6.10am flight from Prestwick.
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But the Mirror reports how Ryanair staff at the gate broke the heartbreaking news the family were unable to board the plane because Zak's passport had expired - even though it still has months to run.
Zak's passport was issued in March 2017 and has an expiry date of October 31 2022. This meets the current EU requirement of being less than 10 years old and having at least three months' validity left on the passenger's return date.
That means it is legal for travel in Spain and all other EU countries up to July 31 this year.
Speaking out about the incident, mum Lisa Schoneville told The Independent : "He explained this was due to Brexit and that passports were only valid for five or 10 years from the date of issue.
“We didn't want to cause a scene at the check in desk so we left and sat down to research this further. We couldn't find any information on this rule, and could only find the information stated about the 10-year passport rule."
This is the EU requirement that British passports are less than 10 years old on the day of travel to Europe. All children's passports, which are valid for a maximum of five years and nine months, automatically meet this requirement.
Ms Schoneville added: "We asked on numerous occasions for links to websites but were never provided with any physical evidence. They told us they had called 'Ryanair Immigration' and they advised them to refuse our travel.
"We asked them to call again in front of us so we could hear what they had to say. 'Ryanair Immigration' confirmed we were not allowed to travel."
Back home in Motherwell they called Ryanair again and were told that Zak needed six months on his passport prior to travelling to the EU and three months on his passport for travelling back to the UK. However these requirements are incorrect.
A Ryanair statement on passport validity said: "Ryanair complies with all European Commission travel regulations and passengers travelling between the EU and the UK after the end of the transition period must have a passport that is not valid for more than 10 years."
