Ferry firm invents own passport rules - wrecking family birthday holiday -

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.

- SIMON CALDER

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.