Mum banned from boarding flight with daughter, 3, because her passport had a TEAR in it
Hayley Lewis, 28, was forced to fork out £480 to get a new passport after being escorted from Bristol airport when staff noticed the ripped page
A BEAUTY technician was barred from flying to Spain with her three-year-old daughter - because airport workers thought her passport had been torn to hide travel to "suspicious" countries.
Mum Hayley Lewis, 28, was forced to fork out £480 to get a new passport after being escorted from Bristol airport when staff noticed the ripped page.
They claimed the damage could have been a deliberate attempt to hide a stamp from a "suspicious" country - but Hayley reckons her daughter tore it by accident.
To make matters worse, she was barred from the flight to Menorca after little Sydney had boarded with her grandmother - meaning Hayley missed her daughter's first flight.
After breezing through the security checks and handing over her bags, she was stopped by a TUI worker who radioed through that she should not be allowed on the plane.
She blasted: "They treated me like was a drug smuggler - I felt like a criminal. It couldn't have been more obvious I was taking my daughter on holiday.
"It's horrible, I missed my daughter's first flight. It ruined our holiday."
"I broke down in tears, my daughter was already on the plane with my mum.
"I phoned my mum and told her to stay on the plane because I assumed I would be on the next flight.
"I didn't know there was a tear in my passport at all. We checked in and everything was fine, it all happened when we were about to board the plane.
"Then someone came and walked me down stairs and said there was nothing they could do and escorted me off the premises.
"I asked them to explain and they said I could have tried to rip out a stamp for another country."
"My nan is disabled and my mum was going to look after her, I was supposed to look after my daughter.
"Instead my mum, who suffers from anxiety, had to look after a toddler and my disabled grandmother.
"We're in the process of writing a complaint, I understand they have their rules and stuff but there's so much that goes into planning a holiday - especially with a child.
"I thought they would have taken me into a room an interrogated me, or checked my luggage, but they didn't do any of that.
A spokesperson for TUI said: "We're sorry to hear Miss Lewis was refused travel on this occasion, however, this is due to the fact that a page had been severely torn from her passport.
"Our check in teams have a responsibility to ensure customers have the correct documentation for travel and that there are no signs of damage.
"To prevent any issues occurring we would advise all customers to check their documentation is in good condition before travel."
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport said: "All passengers are required to present an undamaged passport for use when travelling.
";If a passport is damaged or badly torn the passenger may be refused travel, as happened on this occasion."
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