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_ British husband who had planned 'dream' opera holiday with his wife was left £3,000 out of pocket when he was told he couldn't board the plane to Bulgaria due to new passport rules

_ British husband who had planned 'dream' opera holiday with his wife was left £3,000 out of pocket when he was told he couldn't board the plane to Bulgaria due to new passport rules

A British man who had planned a 'dream' opera holiday with his wife has been left £3,000 out of pocket after being told he couldn't board the plane to Bulgaria due to new passport rules.

Huw Gosling, 69, was not allowed to board his flight in July 2023 at Birmingham Airport because his passport was issued more than 10 years before the departure date.

British holidaymakers flying to the European Union have been warned about the '10-year passport rule' that only came into effect after Brexit, leaving those who are not aware of it to find out at airport gates.

Mr Gosling and his wife Patricia, who was in a wheelchair, planned to visit Bulgaria to see German composer Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle with tickets that were 'really difficult to get'.

Before their trip Mr Gosling put his passport details into the IATA Travel Centre website which told him that 'the documentation you hold is sufficient'.

He thought his 10-year passport was valid for travel as he had nine months left before it expired.

Staff who checked Mr Goslings passport when he checked in and book his luggage didn't mention anything about his passport being invalid for travel.

He told the BBC: 'I knew I needed more than three months left on it and mine had nine, so it seemed like plenty.

'But when I got to the gate, the woman said 'You can't travel on this passport.

'I was livid, but I didn't know who to be livid with,' he said.

'At the end of the day, the European rules had changed and I was not allowed to travel.

'I was livid almost with myself, but then I thought what more could I have done?

'We lost everything. We lost our flights, they weren't insured. And Patricia couldn't travel alone because she's in a wheelchair.

'I was able to get money back for our hotel but not for the travel, car parking or opera tickets. We lost about £3,000.'

Last year, a father of three said he was forced to pay £3,000 and drive more than 1,100 miles across six countries in order to join his family holiday after falling victim to the same passport rule.

Peter Holt, 50, said he was one of three people turned away at the boarding gate for a flight to Croatia from the UK because his passport was out of date, despite it not expiring until next year.

(Fluierul)

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