Travelling With An Expired Passport - An Update .......

[Gizmonster]

An update from my earlier thread:

https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Travel/Question1676141.html

This may (or may not) come as a surprise, but they made it to Spain this morning with no problems. The usual checks were made whilst leaving the UK and entering Spain and the passport was never questioned .... so it was either not noticed .... or no one cared.

It might be a different matter when returning from Spain back to the UK, so I'll post yet another update after they've returned :)

[Tilly2]

So far, so good. :-)

[Samuraisan]

I am not surprised they got through Spanish Border Control. If I remember correctly, they give British passports a cursory look and wave one through. Good luck on their return.

[TonyV]

Glad they got to Spain without any hitches.

[Hopkirk]

It made me laugh when I heard of a shop refusing to sell alcohol to someone because their passport had expired.

[KARL]

My guess would be that the chances of anything adverse happening are lower the second time. This is because the person is a British passport holder on their way to the UK. The Spanish check is more for the sake of the airline which would be bound to fly the passenger back if rejected. At the UK end the likelihood of a serious problem is again low because at worst it would be a short conversation. I know of a case where people from abroad were coming to visit us (in the UK) and in spite of her having lost her passport on her way (left it in the seat pocket), i.e. had no passport at all, they both came and visited and left again without a problem to speak of.