A holidaymaker was left strapped for cash after being told his prepayment card had expired - despite paying money onto it a few weeks earlier.
Trevor Sharples, 61, and his wife Patricia were holidaying at the Golf Del Sur resort in Tenerife, with Patricia’s sister and her husband when the error emerged.
Before leaving for the resort, Trevor paid almost 800 Euros onto a Cash Passport card he had bought at the Thomas Cook travel agents in Kirkham.
Holidaymakers can deposit cash onto the card and use it like a bank card when they go abroad.
However when Trevor tried to use the money, during the second week of his holiday, he was told the card was no longer valid - despite displaying an expiry date of June 2013.
Trevor, of Darlington Street, Coppull, said: “There is a number on the card for when you are in difficulties, so I rang them and they said the card expired in November 2011.
“Apparently that was the date on the original card I was issued but this was a replacement card with a new expiry date.
“After they confirmed that the card was out of date I told them I had put money on it before we went away. She said ‘you can do’.”
Trevor last used the card in Playa De Las Americas in November last year but when he returned to Tenerife for his annual holiday Trevor was unable to access the money he had set aside for his holiday, just two weeks earlier.
Thomas Cook transferred some money through Western Union to Trevor, who then had to take a £35 taxi to the nearest post office to collect the cash.
He said: “I rang them on the Wednesday and I collected the money on the Friday - the day before we came home. Fortunately it wasn’t my only source of money - I’d only taken it as a backup but I was absolutely seething.”
A spokesman for Thomas Cook said: “We know how important it is to get every single aspect of someone’s holiday just right, so we’re sorry that Mr Sharples was inconvenienced in this way. We’re looking at how this IT error occurred and at the time we were able to arrange an immediate money transfer to ensure Mr Sharples could carry on enjoying his holiday.”
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