'I hadn't seen my girlfriend in three months - but couldn't visit her because of a STAIN on my passport'

A man who hadn't seen his girlfriend in three months claims he was unable to visit her because of a stain on his passport.

Jamie McMann, 26, from Stockport, had booked TUI flights to Cancun, Mexico, to finally get to see his girlfriend, who had been travelling around South America.

There had initially been some confusion at the bag check-in desks at Manchester Airport on April 29, where Jamie claims TUI staff queried the small stain before they assured him it was fine for travel.

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He claims he has used the same passport to travel multiple times over the years to the likes of Tunisia, Romania and Serbia without experiencing any problems.

But it was upon reaching the gates to board the plane, that Jamie claims staff raised the stain as being a problem and that it had not been documented on the system by the staff member who had checked it hours before.

"I explained I had been through this with the TUI manager at check-in, who had explicitly assured me this wouldn't happen as they had already followed procedure," he said.

"The staff claim this was not documented, so they would have to ring her to confirm. For 25 minutes they try to get hold of the relevant line manager to absolutely no avail.

"Naturally my anxieties are high at this stage. Multiple members of staff look at my passport, scan it and reassured me that it would be fine.

"Despite this, minutes before the flight is due to leave, they are told not to let me on the plane. At this point I am a wreck of emotions as you'd expect. Anger, shock and sadness. I could not believe the disorganisation and lack of empathy I experienced."

At this point, unable to get on the flight