A mother who forfeited her £820 holiday after being refused entry at Manchester Airport has issued an urgent warning to all passengers. Donna Fairclough, a pub landlady, had arranged to fly from the travel hub to Malta with her fiancé Gary Broadley on January 3.

However, when Donna, 42, and Gary, 55, reached the airport they were refused boarding by easyJet because Donna had a tear in her passport. The tear extended along roughly half of the photo page of her passport.

Donna claims that when she was shown the damage she didn’t recall it being as extensive as it proved to be, reports the Manchester Evening News.

She said: “I don’t actually know [when it ripped]. We went to Tenerife last year and everything was fine. The rip wasn’t as bad as it looks in the photo. At the time, it was a tiny rip above the picture.”

It was because of the minuscule size of the tear that Donna was shocked to be refused by easyJet at Manchester Airport. She said: “We got to Manchester Airport and printed off our labels for our bags. We walked round to the baggage check-in desk and she asked for our passports and boarding passes. I gave them mine and she said ‘one second’.”

Donna added: “She came back and told me I couldn’t fly because my passport was damaged. I was gobsmacked and heartbroken. It was just a little rip above the picture. I don’t know how the rip got bigger. I might have caught it.

“The rip was initially about a quarter-of-an-inch. I was excited to go away. It was heartbreaking because we lost out on a holiday because of a rip. I said to my partner, you can still see my face and my passport number and it didn’t affect any of that. That’s what I couldn’t understand.”

After the incident, the couple have since claimed that easyJet won’t reimburse them because the tear has been classified as accidental damage.

The UK government website cautions that if a passport is torn it will be deemed damaged and therefore someone may be prevented from flying and should get their passport replaced immediately.

It states: “If your passport is damaged you must replace it. You may not be able to travel with it. HM Passport Office will consider your passport damaged if […] any of the pages are ripped, cut or missing.”

Donna has since purchased a new passport, but has also urged people to examine their own passports to prevent the same situation befalling them.

She said: “I would tell people to thoroughly check through. Even if it’s a little rip or a little crease. Anything they might think might stop you from flying. Some people might think it’s fine but it’s obviously not as I’m one of the people it’s happened to.”

In a statement following the incident, a spokesperson for easyJet said: “We’re sorry to hear that Ms Fairclough was not able to go on her holiday due to her passport being damaged, and we understand how disappointing this must have been.

“Our airline works closely with the authorities and complies with their guidance to ensure the safety and security of customers and crew, and this means we can’t allow anyone to travel if their documentation is damaged.

“As soon as Ms Fairclough reached out to us, we advised on how she could obtain a new passport. We have been back in touch to offer any further support, and we hope we can take her on holiday soon.”