Four years after the post-Brexit passport rules for travel to the EU took effect, a leading ferry line wrongly turned away a family from a birthday voyage from Newcastle to Amsterdam because staff made up their own rules.
Laura Drinkeld and her two young children arrived at the DFDS North Shields terminal on 7 March for a trip to the Netherlands to celebrate her daughter’s seventh birthday.
Ms Drinkeld’s passport, issued for 10 years and nine months, was valid for travel to anywhere in the European Union as it met the two conditions for post-Brexit travel:
- Under 10 years old on the day of departure
- At least three months to expiry on the intended day of return
But as has happened at a number of UK airports, DFDS staff invented their own condition: that a British passport somehow “expires” 10 years after issue. This has never been the case.
Ms Drinkeld says: “The DFDS check-in assistant stated the nine months extra must be removed and my ‘new expiry date’ was 19 March 2025. She input this date into the border control website and stated I was refused entry.
“I insisted my expiry date should not be amended, but she passed me to another colleague who confirmed the same. My two children were very distressed as it was a trip for my daughter’s seventh birthday.
“The trip to Holland was the only thing she had asked for on her birthday.”
Ms Drinkeld found evidence on the UK government website that confirmed her passport was valid for travel. But she says her protests were ignored: “As the assistants were refusing to listen to the legislation I was showing them, we had no choice but to leave the situation.”
Besides forfeiting the price of their ferry crossing, the family lost out on museum tickets in Amsterdam, food bought for the ferry and extra costs “organising last-minute birthday plans for my daughter in the hope the whole weekend wasn’t ruined”.
Ms Drinkeld then submitted a formal complaint to DFDS and was told, incorrectly, that border control had refused entry. She then contacted The Independent, which investigated on her behalf.
A DFDS spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, on this occasion, our check-in team misinterpreted the rules regarding the validity of Ms Drinkeld’s passport and refused boarding at Newcastle.
“As her passport was issued less than 10 years ago, travel should have been permitted. We are very sorry that the decision led to the cancellation of Laura’s plans, especially given it was going to be such a special occasion to celebrate her daughter’s birthday.
“We are writing to her directly to express our sincere apologies and to offer her family the opportunity to travel at a future date at no expense.
“We are rebriefing our check-in team today to clarify and reiterate the correct interpretation of the rules and will work hard to ensure that other passengers do not find themselves in the same circumstances.”
In response, Ms Drinkeld said: “The last three weeks have been so stressful after the complete humiliation we felt in that port. I’m so pleased the team are being retrained, and no one else will have to face the situation we had to deal with.
“The whole thing was handled so poorly, even without the misunderstanding of the rules. They have completely ignored my husband’s lengthy email explaining the way we were spoken to in the port and lack of empathy shown by the team.”
The Independent has asked DFDS to check whether other passengers have been wrongly turned away.
Source: independent.co.uk
