Mum ‘forced’ to leave ‘devastated’ young daughter behind for £3,500 holiday after passport mix-up

Mum ‘forced ‘to leave ‘devastated’ young daughter behind for £3,500 holiday after passport mix-up. An inconsolable mum claims that she had to leave her 10-year-old daughter behind when she realised only days before the family’s all-inclusive holiday to Greece, that her daughter’s passport had run out.

Mum, Samantha O’Connor lives in Dublin, and it was only days before the family’s £3,500 holiday when she realised there was a problem. She attempted to get a renewal sorted and even contacted local politicians to see if they could help speed up the renewal process.

Speaking to Dublin live Samantha said: “We were making sure we had everything sorted when we realised that the child’s passport had expired.

“It was a renewal – it’s not like she hasn’t had a passport. She’s had two passports previously.

“I couldn’t put my holiday forward because I’d have to give five working days to do that.”

The inconsolable mum left her young daughter with a relative and headed off on holiday. She claims that she could not cancel the holiday as she would have lost money. The young girl was eventually able to join the rest of family though as her dad flew out with her on a flight after her new passport arrived. She did though miss the first week of the holiday.

Samantha commented from the Greek island of Rhodes and said: “My whole first week of the holiday went sitting by the phone waiting and checking emails.

“My whole first six days here literally went sitting by the phone and making sure I had internet and signal in case someone was going to ring me, which they never did.”

She added: “I had to leave my 10-year-old with my sister because we paid €4,000 (£3,500) for this holiday.

“We went all-inclusive. It’s our first holiday in two years and it never happened for her.

“She was devastated at the beginning. I was devastated. I was inconsolable even going out on the flight because of the thoughts of leaving her behind.”

The Department of foreign affairs commented on passport applications and said: “The turnaround time for applications such as child renewals and first time applicants begins only when we receive all required supporting documentation.

“When an application has been correctly completed and all documentation has been received the Passport Service is making every effort to issue passports as quickly as possible.”

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