EASYJET has apologised after an eight-year-old girl missed out on a trip to Disneyland Paris.

Tara Gasson was about to board a flight at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport with grandma Sue Harris, from Mollington, when airline staff incorrectly said the youngster needed a visa.

Tara was left devastated and in tears.

The mix-up arose because Tara has a Croatian passport – her father David, who hails from Chester, married a woman from Croatia where the family lives.

Grandma Sue, 60, who spends every summer with her grandaughter, told Easyjet staff that she had checked with official websites and Tara did not need a visa but to no avail.

Easyjet’s Anna Olichwier-Karakas offered sincere apologies and has rebooked them on the same flight later in the month, with a £100 flight voucher by way of compensation.

Sue managed to transfer her booking to Disneyland Paris but for a higher rate, leaving her almost £200 out-of-pocket on top of all the phone calls she has made.

She said: “It wasn’t until we got out of the airport that Tara asked me to explain what was happening but her anger was more about not being allowed on because she was Croatian.

“She was more outraged at that than not being able to go to Disneyland. She didn’t cry until we were out of the airport. I was quite proud of her.”

Sue, of Coalpit Lane, was annoyed if it was the tightening of anti-terrorism rules that led to the problem.

“We were an old lady and a little girl going to Disneyland. I thought that would be obvious,” added Sue, a retired mental health nurse, who pleaded without success for staff to look at the same website she had checked.