Amber’s £6,000 holiday was ruined after the mistake (Picture: Kennedy News)
A mum has claimed her family were held ‘like criminals’ for 24 hours with little food or water and lost their £6,000 Turkish holiday – all because she forgot to check her son’s passport expiry.
Amber Maherloughnan flew from London Gatwick to Antalya, Turkey, on August 5 with her family to enjoy a week-long holiday.
But the 28-year-old was ‘shocked’ to be told her six-year-old son Reuben’s passport was nearly four months out of date upon arriving in Turkey.
The ‘terrified’ parent claims the pair had their passports ‘snatched’ away and were detained for nearly 24 hours by Turkish authorities in a room with 13 other people and only a ‘disgusting’ toilet to use.
She claims they were given barely any food or water – only a ‘rotten tomato and an egg’ that was ‘kicked at them’.
Amber’s fiancé Will Land-Smith, 31, tried to get a temporary travel document from the Turkish embassy -but this would not guarantee the duo entry.
The mum of one was left £6,000 out of pocket (Picture: Kennedy News)
The mum-of-one was forced to pay for her ‘silly mistake’ as they had to fly home the very next day and miss out on the £6,000 trip.
She shared a heartbreaking photo of little Reuben staring out the plane window mournfully as he is forced to return home without having his holiday.
Taking to Facebook, the photographer posted a picture of Reuben staring sadly out of the plane window, captioned ‘let this be a lesson to all parents check your kids passports’.
Amber, who lives in Lewes, East Sussex, said: ‘It was horrible. I don’t want pity for myself. It was my fault. But the way I was treated with a child wasn’t fair. That’s the bit that got me the most. And how easily done it can be. I should never have been flown through. It was an oversight.
‘Embarrassingly, the passport expired about three months before. I do take full responsibility. But I do feel like when you’re at an airport and they say it’s passport security, their job is to do passport security.
‘To feel vulnerable in the sense they genuinely let me through the country so easily is very upsetting.’
Little Reuben flew home with no holiday (Picture: Kennedy News)
Amber said she went to Turkey with her family to ‘spend money’ on things and ‘support their country’, but was treated in a bad way.
She added: ‘It’s just sad. I’m basically a tourist and my son and I were treated like that. It was the thought of him going through it all. Luckily, he was amazing. It was not nice for him at all.’
The parent revealed she hadn’t checked her son’s passport, which expired on April 16, 2024, before travelling and had ‘no idea the whole time’ it had passed until they arrived in Turkey.
Amber said she arrived at passport check-in and had ‘no issues’, before arriving in Turkey where an officer began ‘shouting’ at them.
‘The officer went through our passports and said that it was all fine. He saw my son’s and just started shouting and saying “the police are being called. Your passports expired and you won’t be allowed into the country.”
‘I was shocked. I said “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what to do.” I was absolutely terrified. I didn’t know what was going to happen.’
Amber said she and Reuben were left without proper food and water (Picture: Kennedy News)
After she was taken into an office with her son, she was told she couldn’t enter the country and Amber said officers tried to get her to sign paperwork.
‘Then they locked me in a room for 13 hours without what I’d call food. They put a rotten tomato and an egg in a box and kicked it across to me.
‘They gave me one bottle of water for myself and my son. At one point there were 13 of us in this room. They treated me like a criminal.
‘There was one bed with no bedsheet, no blanket, no pillow, no nothing. The floor was disgusting, the toilet was disgusting. I curled up in the corner where the radiator was. I didn’t really tell anyone what was going on because there was nothing anyone could do. It was just disgusting. Some of the guards terrified me.’
Amber revealed her 31-year-old partner, who is a fencer, and his six-year-old son had to leave the airport and contacted the Turkish embassy to try and secure a temporary travel document.
However, the mum and son were forced to fly home the next day as there was no guarantee this paperwork would allow them entry into the country.
The mum-of-one revealed the experience left her feeling like she’d ‘ruined everything’ after forking out £6,000 for the trip and vows to be ‘extra careful’ in the future.
Amber said: ‘It’s ruined our whole holiday financially. We had to book separately for another flight home. Expensively, it was bad. I’ve just been in limbo the whole time. It’s been quite traumatic and upsetting and I just feel like I’ve ruined everything.
‘We’d taken the week off work and spent £6,000 that we’re never going to get back now. I will never do that again in my lifetime. I will be extra careful.’
The UK Government website states that if you are visiting Turkey, your passport ‘must be valid for at least 150 days from the date you arrive’.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs state on their website that visitors are ‘kindly advised to have a travel document/passport valid for at least six months as from the date of your arrival in Turkey’.
Gatwick said it is the airline’s responsibility to check passports and board passengers onto flights and that they don’t have any involvement.
Antalya Turkey airport said it was a matter for the passport police authorities to comment on.
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