Thousands face Easter trip misery over passport rules

Britons bound for Europe falling foul of post-Brexit change

- SIMON CALDER

Millions of Britons are barred from entering the EU by post-Brexit passport rules that are set to cause chaos over the Easter holidays. With the getaway starting in earnest today, an estimated 2.4 million travellers have documents that can't be used for trips to the EU because of the change in expiry requirements.

Since Brexit, British passports must have an issue date less than 10 years old on the day of departure to the EU, and must have at least three months left before their expiry date on the intended day of return. But millions of passports issued prior to September 2018 have longer validity periods. Analysis by The Independent suggests 200 people every day are falling foul of this rule at UK airports, with thousands expected to see their holidays ruined over the upcoming break.

The rule change follows Britain's Brexit deal with the EU, which puts the UK into the "third country nationals" category alongside Venezuela and Samoa - with different expiry rules than when it was a member state. It means Britons are being turned away at airports, ferries and trains bound for Europe even if they have previously travelled to the EU on the same document.

The 17-day Easter break is a particularly busy time for British travellers and an estimated 6.4 million trips will be made from the UK to Europe - 1.6 million over the bank holiday weekend alone.