A family-of-four were about to head off to Portugal for a holiday but one of the kids was told a passport rule meant he could not board the flight forcing them to miss out15:25, 21 Jul 2026A family planning to jet off to Portugal for a summer holiday were left stranded at the gate in the UK due to a passport rule.‌Dan Sharples, 41, and his wife Laura Sharples were due to fly from Liverpool John Lennon Airport with their two sons on June 23, but the family was turned away at the last moment. The dad, from Widnes, said he had booked the getaway at his local travel agent at the start of the year .‌He revealed the two parents and their three-year-old son were given the green light to travel but their nine-year-old boy Spencer was told he couldn't go through. The boy's passport hadn't expired but was within three months of going out of date, making it invalid.‌The family had planned to visit Portugal as part of an annual trip with a group of 24 other people from Dan's former rugby club. Dan claimed he he handed his family's passports over to the travel agent when they were organising the trip for them, according to the Liverpool Echo.He said: "We booked with Hays Travel and they took all our passports. It was all entered and nothing was ever flagged up. At bag drop they examined our passports and never said anything. But when we went to board the plane, they refused us boarding.‌"We were right at the gate and had to wait until everyone else had boarded while we were taken back out. We were just gutted. I was quite angry to be honest. I was asking how we managed to get that far through the process and through the airport without anyone alerting us to the problem."Entry rules for British passport holders have changed since Brexit, meaning they are now seen as "third-country nationals". To travel to EU countries, passports must be valid for at least three months after your planned return date. Hays Travel said it advises customers to check the most up-to-date guidance for travel documents via the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office website.Dan said: "Hays Travel had our passports. They checked us in three weeks before we travelled. If they had highlighted the issue at the time, we could have sorted it out. But because it's a child's passport, the quickest you can get a replacement was five days. We lost our holiday basically, so I was annoyed and frustrated."‌The dad added: "We had booked it earlier in the year, probably around February. We had it planned for a while. We missed the group trip last year so we decided to go this year, only to end up missing it again."Hays Travel had issued us boarding passes with those travel documents and nobody told us anything at all or flagged any concerns. I was annoyed, the kids were upset watching everyone board the plane without us. They walked us back through customs, we collected our bags, and that was early in the morning."A spokesperson for Hays Travel said: "While we empathise with Mr Sharples, our agents explain to customers at the time of booking that they are responsible for ensuring their travel documents are valid for the destination they are visiting. For this booking, Mr Sharples was advised to check the most up-to-date guidance via the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website to avoid any issues."Article continues belowDan said he contacted Hays Travel in Widnes to explain the situation and claimed they were "were very apologetic" but refused to give him a refund when he called later. He said: "One of the girls from the shop rang us back saying they wouldn't offer us anything, saying it was our fault because we were responsible for the documents."We don't get a refund, nothing. My argument is we paid Hays Travel for the service, they offered to check us in so they should have let us know if there was a problem."The dad added: "I feel very angry. Normally I book these things myself, and I feel if I had done it myself I would have noticed it. But we've been left without a holiday or any form of compensation."