A FAMILY were forced to miss their friend’s wedding following a passport blunder at Bristol Airport.
Last September, Ross Bradley and Nancy Hesp were travelling from Bristol Airport to Cyprus with their young son.
BPMRoss Bradley and Nancy Hesp were travelling from Bristol Airport to Cyprus with their young son[/caption]
The family, who had spent one year planning the holiday, were flying to the Mediterranean island for their friend’s wedding, where Nancy was meant to be a bridesmaid.
Unfortunately, the bridesmaid didn’t make it out of the UK, after staff at the regional airport lost a folder containing the family’s passports.
Nancy told the Bristol Post: “We knew we had our passports safely with us when we arrived at Bristol Airport because we needed them to check the luggage in – so you can imagine our absolute horror when we went to board our plane, and they had mysteriously gone missing.”
At the boarding gate, Ross and Nancy explained to the staff that their passports must be somewhere in the airport.
After a “cursory search” of several areas at the airport, their passports weren’t found, which meant the family were turned away from their flight.
According to the family, the loss of their passports wasn’t officially logged by staff at the airport.
Nancy added: “No one said they’d search the security checking area, even though I told staff that I’d seen an employee upturn my personal bag and empty all its contents.”
Ross and Nancy attempted to get emergency passports and last-minute flights but were unable to do so.
After phoning her friend to explain that she would not be attending her wedding, Nancy spent two days in tears.
Two weeks after the family’s scheduled departure, Nancy received a phone call from a staff member at Bristol Airport.
They had reviewed the footage of the security area, and they had noticed that the folder containing the family’s passports had fallen out of the upturned bag during the security search.
Nancy had been told by the staff member that they’d gone to the area, and they had located the missing passports within two minutes.
Mr Bradley added: “If airport staff had done this quick search when we were at the gate, we could have continued our journey to Cyprus.”
The family have said there was no official support, advice or guidance issued by the airport when their passports went missing.
According to Nancy, the family have yet to receive their passports returned – despite staff claiming to have posted the documents.
Nancy added: “Until this is resolved, I cannot apply for replacement passports or go abroad.”
A spokesperson from Bristol Airport told Sun Online Travel: “We’ve apologised to the customer directly and will again say that we’re really sorry that their passports were not found in time.
“Bristol Airport understands the distress caused by the family missing their flight. We could and should have done more to locate the passports after they slipped down a gap during a routine baggage search, and to support the family at the time. Since this occurred, we’ve taken every step with our security partner to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“After being told the passports had been cancelled, we posted them back to the customer. We’ve offered over £2,000 as initial compensation for the missed flight and the distress caused – and need to discuss any further payments with the customer directly.”
This isn’t the first time something has happened to a passenger’s passport inside the airport.
Last year, a woman was forced to miss her £8,000 family holiday after a simple mistake with her passport – despite it being caused by airport scanners.
Meanwhile, another woman missed her “dream trip” to Ireland after damaging her passport just minutes before boarding her flight.
Another couple who had a ‘small rip’ in their passport were banned from their flight to Thailand for a similar reason.
BPMThe passports went missing after a personal bag was upturned at the security desk by a member of staff[/caption]