A “traumatised” mother says her family were held “like criminals” in Turkey with rotten food and little water after their “mistake” of arriving on holiday with an expired passport.
Amber Maherloughnan, from Lewes, East Sussex, flew from London Gatwick to Antalya with her family for a £6,000 week-long holiday in August.
But the 28-year-old was “shocked” when she was told her six-year-old son Reuben’s passport was almost four months old on arrival.
The “terrified” mother says officials “snatched” their passports and they were detained for almost 24 hours along with 13 other people.
She claims they only had a “disgusting” bathroom to use and were given barely any food or water – just a “rotten tomato and an egg” that “they kicked at them”.
Amber (pictured) and her family had shelled out £6,000 for the holiday of a lifetime.
‘Let this be a lesson to all parents: check your children’s passports,’ Amber wrote on social media.
Amber’s fiancé, Will Land-Smith, 31, tried to obtain a temporary travel document from the Turkish embassy but was unable to grant them entry.
The mother-of-one was forced to pay for her “silly mistake” as she had to fly home the next day and miss out on the £6,000 trip.
She shared a heartbreaking photo of little Reuben looking sadly out of the plane window as he is forced to return home without his holiday.
“Let this be a lesson to all parents: check your children’s passports,” she wrote on social media.
Amber, who lives in Lewes, East Sussex, said: “It was awful. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me. It was my fault.”
“But the way they treated me as a child was not fair. That’s what affected me the most.”
“And how easy it can be to do so. I should never have been flown. It was an oversight.
“It is shameful that the passport expired about three months ago. I take full responsibility.
‘But I feel like when you’re at an airport and they tell you they’re doing passport security, their job is to do passport security.
‘Feeling vulnerable in the sense that I was actually allowed to traverse the country so easily is very disturbing.
“It was a very honest mistake. We didn’t deserve that treatment. It’s a country on tour.
‘I go there with my family to spend money on things to support their country and they treat me very badly.
“It’s very sad. I’m basically a tourist and my son and I were treated like this. I thought he would have to go through all that.
“Luckily, it was amazing. It wasn’t pleasant at all for him.”
The mother revealed that she had not checked her son’s passport, which expired on April 16, 2024, before travelling and that she “had no idea how much time” had passed until they arrived in Turkey.
Amber said: “I had no idea it was out of date. It was a really dumb mistake.”
‘We got to passport control. Then we boarded the plane and they checked our passports again, without any problems. They didn’t say anything to us.
‘We arrived at Turkish Airlines and went through passport control. My son’s passport was last on the list.
‘The officer checked our passports and said everything was fine. He looked at my son’s and started shouting: “Call the police. Their passports have expired and they won’t be able to enter the country.”
‘I was in shock. I said, “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what to do.” I was completely terrified. I didn’t know what was going to happen.’
The mother revealed that she and her son were detained by police officers for almost 24 hours and claimed they were treated like “criminals.”
Amber said: “I was treated like a criminal. I was taken into an office with four officers and told ‘you’re not allowed into the country, there’s nothing you can do’.”
‘They tried to make me sign some documents and snatched my passports from my hands, but they didn’t give them to me.
“Then they locked me in a room for 13 hours without what I would call food. They put a rotten tomato and an egg in a box and kicked it around to me.
‘They gave me a bottle of water for me and my son. At one point, there were 13 of us in that room. They treated me like a criminal.
‘I asked for our suitcases to be carried and they said no. I managed to get my son’s suitcase carried because it was small and portable.
‘They threw her clothes all over the room and went through her bag looking for I don’t know what because she had already gone through security.
“There was a bed with no sheets, no blankets, no pillows, nothing. The floor was disgusting, the bathroom was disgusting.
‘I cowered in the corner where the radiator was. I didn’t tell anyone what was happening because there was nothing anyone could do. It was just disgusting.
‘Some of the guards terrified me.’
A passport oversight left the family unable to enjoy their £6,000 holiday.
Amber was ‘terrified’ when she and her family were held for almost a day upon arrival in Türkiye
Amber revealed that her 31-year-old partner, who is a fencer, and their six-year-old son had to leave the airport and contacted the Turkish embassy to try and obtain a temporary travel document.
However, the mother and son were forced to fly home the next day because there was no guarantee that these documents would allow them to enter the country.
Amber said: ‘I had false hope that we were going to get in and then we wouldn’t make it and everything was going to be okay. I was counting down the minutes until they let us out.
‘My partner was told he wasn’t allowed into the airport and was told he had to go through, so he went in and went on holiday.
‘My partner called the embassy and tried to get a temporary document so we could bring my son into the country.
‘They said that even if we had a document they wouldn’t let us in. The only flight I could take was the next day at 3pm. They didn’t tell me when it was or where.
“It was horrible. The next day it arrived and they didn’t tell me which flight it was.
She said police officers arrived and “grabbed” her to escort her to the plane without any food.
“I would never fly with that airline again. Even when I was on the Turkish plane they did not give me my passport and continued to speak to me rudely.”
Amber said the experience left her feeling like she had “ruined everything” after shelling out £6,000 for the trip and vows to be “very careful” in future.
Amber said: ‘It ruined our holiday financially. We had to book another flight back separately. It was expensive and it was wrong.
“I’ve been in limbo the whole time. It’s been pretty traumatic and upsetting and I feel like I’ve screwed everything up.
‘We took a week off work and spent £6,000 which we’ll never get back now.
“I will never do that again in my life. I will be very careful.”
The family (pictured arriving) had to cut their trip short and fly home the next day.
Six-year-old Reuben was “amazing” throughout the experience, even though he “didn’t like it at all”
The UK Government website states that if you are visiting Turkey, your passport “must be valid for at least 150 days from the date of your arrival”.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs states on its website that “visitors are advised to have a travel document/passport valid for at least six months from the date of their arrival in Turkey.”
Gatwick said it was the airline’s responsibility to check passports and board passengers onto flights and that it had no involvement.
Antalya airport in Turkey said it was a matter for discussion with passport police authorities.
SunExpress airline, the Turkish Police Association and its passport division were contacted for comment but did not respond.