Family misplaced £6k vacation after being held like ‘criminals’ over passport mistake

A ‘traumatised’ mum claims 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. However, the 28-year-old was ‘shocked’ to be told her six-year-old son Reuben’s passport was nearly four months out of date upon arriving in Turkey.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’ mother 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.

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She claims they were given barely any food or water – only a ‘rotten tomato and an egg’ that was ‘kicked at them’. Amber’s fiance Will Land-smith, 31, tried to get a temporary travel document from the Turkish embassy however this would not guarantee the duo entry.

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 was forced to return home without having his holiday.

Taking to Facebook, she posted the snap, 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.”

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.

She explained: “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.”

The mum revealed she and her son were detained by police officers for nearly 24 hours and claimed they were treated like ‘criminal[s]’.

Amber said: “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.”

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.

SunExpress airline and the Turkish Police Association and their passport division have been approached for a comment but failed to respond.

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