‘It was a big shock’: new border rules left couple stuck in Kraków after living in UK for 80 years

Maria and Czeslaw Krupa with two family members outside the Tauron Arena in Kraków. Photograph: Image courtesy of Stephanie Postle Krupa/the Krupa family

Two Polish citizens who have lived in the UK for nearly 80 years after their parents fled the second world war have spoken of their terrifying experience after being told they did not have post-Brexit rights to return to the UK.

In May, while visiting Poland, they learned that although they had been welcomed as refugees after the war, they now needed special post-Brexit paperwork to return to their home in Bury, Greater Manchester.