Dad misses £4k TUI holiday after 'damaged passport ripped in front of family'
A dad claims his family had to go on their £4,000 TUI holiday without him due to an issue with his passport. Jimmy Gould was 'excited' to be travelling with his girlfriend Zowie Buckley, 35, his three kids and extended family to Lanzarote, Spain, for seven nights.
However, the 48-year-old said check-in staff claimed his passport was 'damaged' due to a 10mm tear on the data page from where a sticker had been stuck during a previous flight. They said the document was too 'damaged' so he could not board, meaning Jimmy was forced to leave his 'crying' kids and girlfriend to jet off without him from East Midlands airport on Monday, July 28.
A photo shows a small white tear covering part of the dad's face in his passport duplicate photo from where the boarding sticker was removed. Jimmy claims it was a member of boarding staff who had pulled off the sticker themselves, and not him, reports Birmingham Live.
TUI confirmed passports with stickers on would not be allowed to fly but claimed their agents at East Midlands are trained not to remove any stickers off passports themselves. Jimmy, who lives in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, said: "It's a total nightmare and I'm absolutely fuming.
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"I'm sitting home alone while they're in Lanzarote gutted and they all want to come home because of the situation. One year, the passport officials put a sticker on the duplicate photo page. I've been away for six or seven years with no problem at all.
"I got to the airport and passed all the passports over and a staff member pulled the sticker straight off and she ripped the page. It's a tiny little tear. She literally ripped my passport in front of us all and said 'you can't go'. I can't believe she just sat there and ripped my passport instead of giving me the option to tear it off properly so she wouldn't have marked it.
"She looked at me and said 'this one's damaged and you can't use this passport now'. It's a tiny mark and the other page is fine. My kids started crying once they realised their dad couldn't go. They want their dad there. It's just terrible and I'm absolutely devastated.
"I was so excited to make memories with my family this summer. My daughter is seven and I should be playing in the pool with her but instead I'm stuck at home on my own. They're miserable wanting their dad there. We have one holiday a year and you get excited."
After unsuccessfully trying to apply for an emergency passport the dad is now stuck at home and has missed out on the holiday. Girlfriend Zowie admitted her holiday has been 'ruined' without having her partner there.
Zowie said: "The holiday has been ruined. The experience has been awful as we never go anywhere unless we're together.
"I'm anxious and worried about being in a foreign country on my own with three children and it has totally changed the atmosphere. All that money wasted and all the months saving to go away together to end up apart."
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