By Neil Shaw

Copyright glasgowlive

A tourist was deported from Morocco because Ryanair staff wouldn’t let her retrieve her passport from her plane seat. Rebecca McCurry had just arrived in Marrakesh with three friends when she discovered she had left the essential travel document back on board.

Although the 22-year-old realised her mistake within ‘five minutes’ of leaving the plane, she claims she was not allowed to go back aboard to retrieve it. Ryanair staff reportedly told her that after ‘sweeping the plane’ they had recovered nothing – however the airline later admitted in a statement that the passenger ‘misplaced their passport on board’.

Rebecca is adamant it’s ‘impossible’ that staff did a proper sweep as she claims the passport was later found exactly where she left it by passengers on the return flight. The holidaymaker, who suffers from chronic pain, claims she was under so much stress she ‘passed out multiple times’ during the subsequent interrogation by ‘intimidating’ border police.

She says police ‘laughed’ at her and told her she may have to wait five days for a deportation flight to Edinburgh – despite the fact the plane she arrived in was still on the runway. After three hours of questioning, Rebecca claims she was left to await her fate in a fast food chicken restaurant.

Rebecca, from Lochgilphead in Scotland, was eventually deported to Manchester Airport after the 11-hour ordeal – with dad Brian driving six hours to pick her up. The tourist claims it took another month of chasing after the incident in July to finally get her passport back in August.

The nanny is sharing her travel nightmare as a warning to others to ensure they always keep hold of their passport and other essential documents as it’s possible they will not be allowed to re-enter the plane. Ryanair admit the passenger ‘misplaced her passport onboard’ and was ‘correctly denied entry to the country’.

Rebecca said: “Immediately after I got off the plane, I realised I had left my passport on my seat. “Keeping my passport on me is my responsibility, obviously. But I was away from it for five minutes before I realised.

“I told a member of airport staff and they said it wasn’t a problem, and they’d let the people from Ryanair know. “I said I was happy to get it myself, but they wouldn’t let me back on the plane.

“As time went on, I started to get a bit panicky. “Then a staff member for Ryanair came back and said they searched the whole plane but it wasn’t there.

“I just knew that was impossible. “I was taken away to be questioned by four male policemen.

“They were not being nice. They were being intimidating, laughing at me. They kept calling me ‘little girl’. “They told me I was being deported but there might not be another flight back to Edinburgh for at least five days.

“I didn’t understand because the plane I arrived on – which was going back to Edinburgh – was still sat on the runway after nearly two hours.” Rebecca suffers from chronic pain and said the experience caused her to flare up.

Rebecca said: “I was having muscle spasms and passing out from the stress and pain. I passed out multiple times. “Since I look able-bodied, I think maybe they didn’t believe me – or they didn’t care to believe.

“Honestly it was terrifying. I did not feel like a person at all. It was just insane. “After about three hours, they left me at this fast food place – like a Moroccan KFC.

“They offered me chicken, which I can’t eat because I’m a vegetarian.” The detention lasted 11 hours, before Rebecca came up with an idea to get home.

Rebecca said: “I told them I had spoken to an immigration lawyer. “I lied. I don’t have an immigration lawyer. But after I told them that they put me on the plane immediately.

“They deported me to Manchester and my dad drove six hours to come and get me.” Thankfully, Rebecca knew someone who was getting the return flight to Edinburgh who was able to retrieve her passport from the plane.

Rebecca said: “My friend’s family were on the plane going back and they found it. “It was exactly where I left it.

“I told them to just keep a hold of it. But Ryanair staff took it off them. “Then I spent over a month trying to get in touch with them – in the end I had to go to the airport myself and pay 30 pounds to get my passport back.”

Rebecca has attempted to contact Ryanair but says she has been unable to lodge a complaint. Rebecca said: “Everywhere you go to make a complaint takes you to a dead end.

“I’ve tried chatbots, emails, everything. I don’t know anyone who has successfully got through to Ryanair. “If you have a bad experience with them, there’s absolutely nothing the customer can do.

“They’ve messed up a lot. There is a protocol – they are supposed to do a plane sweep. “Overall, [the experience] has made me extremely anxious. And it has made me really scared about flying again.

“Recently I got on a plane for a trip, hoping to face my fear. But I was terrified – I kept thinking about being deported.” A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “This passenger misplaced their passport onboard their flight from Edinburgh to Marrakesh on the 31 July and subsequently was denied entry into Marrakesh.

“As requested by Marrakesh authorities, Ryanair reaccommodated this passenger onto the next available flight to the UK later that day. “All passengers travelling with Ryanair must present the correct travel documentation for the country of destination as determined by that country, however it is each passenger’s responsibility to carry valid travel documents.

“In this case the passenger was required to present a passport upon arrival at Marrakesh Airport which they failed to do, and they were correctly denied entry to the country. “Ryanair hands over all lost property to the lost and found office at each airport. Once the crew located this passenger’s passport, this passenger’s passport was handed over to lost property at Edinburgh Airport.”

The Office National des Aéroports in Morocco were contacted for comment.