Jimmy Gould, 48, claims he was denied boarding on a Lanzarote-bound TUI flight due to a ‘tiny tear’ on his passport, as his girlfriend and kids were left ‘crying’
A dad has slammed TUI check-in staff after he was allegedly not allowed to board a £4,000 holiday flight over a “tiny tear” on his passport.
Jimmy Gould, 48, was all set to jet off on a seven-day trip to the Spanish Canary island of Lanzarote with his partner Zowie Buckley, 35, three kids and extended family on July 28. But he claims check-in staff at East Midlands airport told him that his passport was too “damaged” due to a 10mm tear on the data page, which had been caused by a sticker.
The dad-of-three, who lives in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, was forced to stay behind, with his partner and kids left “crying”. “It’s a total nightmare and I’m absolutely fuming,” he said. “I’m sitting home alone while they’re in Lanzarote gutted and they all want to come home because of the situation.” It comes after an octopus ‘climbs out of aquarium tank’ and ‘tries to eat boy, 6,’ in front of his mum.
READ MORE: Mum ‘traumatised’ after dog walker pushes her in canal as she cycles to workREAD MORE: ‘My husband seemed confused on Christmas holiday – then he died in front of me’
Jimmy believes he was hard-done by, claiming his passport has a “tiny mark”, which was allegedly caused by a member of boarding staff after she ripped off a sticker from a previous flight. A photo shows a white tear over part of Jimmy’s face in the duplicate photo of his passport.
Jimmy fumed that when he handed over the passports at the airport, a member of staff “pulled the sticker straight off and she ripped the page”. He added: “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.” The member of staff then allegedly told him: “This one’s damaged and you can’t use this passport now.”
TUI confirmed passengers are not allowed to travel with passports containing stickers. However, they claimed their agents at East Midlands are not trained to remove stickers off passports themselves.
The dad is devastated that he is stuck at home instead of making “memories” with his family, including playing in the pool with his daughter. “We have one holiday a year and you get excited,” he said. His attempt to apply for an emergency passport proved unsuccessful.
His partner Zowie said her holiday has been “ruined” as a result of Jimmy not being with them. “I’m anxious and worried about being in a foreign country on my own with three children and it has totally changed the atmosphere,” she said. “All that money wasted and all the months saving to go away together to end up apart.”
The Mirror has contacted TUI for comment.