DFDS Ferries imposes ‘nine years, nine months’ passport rule despite EU evidence to the contrary

‘Our advice to passengers follows UK government guidance and is updated as and when this changes’ - DFDS spokesperson

A cross-Channel DFDS ferry (Getty Images)

Days after the Foreign Office and all leading airlines and holiday companies aligned with European Commission rules on British passport validity, a leading ferry firm is maintaining its own, much more stringent version.

DFDS Ferries is telling UK passengers to France and the Netherlands: “The passport should not be more than nine years, nine months by the time you depart EU.”

There is no such European rule. British passport holders travelling to the European Union and wider Schengen area – including Iceland, Norway and Switzerland – must meet two tests.

• Passport issued less than 10 years before day of arrival in EU.
• Passport expiry date at least three months from intended day of departure from EU.

For example, a UK passport issued on 1 June 2012 and valid to 1 December 2022 can be used for outbound travel up to 31 May. The traveller can stay in the EU up to 90 days, ie late August, less any time spent in the zone in the previous 90 days.

DFDS sails from Dover to Calais and Dunkirk and from Newhaven to Dieppe in northern France, as well as from Newcastle to Amsterdam.

A DFDS spokesperson told The Independent: “The information provided to passengers is an amalgamation of the two statements that passports should be under 10 years old on the day of entry to the EU and that they should have at least three months validity remaining upon the day of leaving the EU – hence the passport should be no more than nine years and nine months on the day that passengers leave the EU.“

Leading consumer lawyer Gary Rycroft says: “Denying a passenger boarding by saying their passport is not valid, when it is in fact perfectly valid, is unlawful.

“Seeking to rely on such a clause is unlawful and it is a well-established principle in law that any contractual term that is unlawful may simply be severed, that is chopped out of the contract as if it was never there.“

The DFDS spokesperson says: “Our advice to passengers follows UK government guidance and is updated as and when this changes.”

Rival firm P&O Ferries provides accurate information for its passengers.

Stena Line includes the assertion: “You may be required to have at least six months validity remaining on your passport for outward travel .” This has never been a requirement for Europe, and The Independent has asked the company to correct its statement.