Storme, who turned 10 last month, nearly didn't make it to Tenerife at half term. The woman at the check-in counter at Gatwick opened her passport and said, "Oh, it's out of date."

Storme was just two weeks old when she got her first passport. A child's passport lasts five years, so a simple calculation would have alerted us to the fact that it was due to be renewed shortly after her 10th birthday. We forgot. I'm ashamed to say my immediate reaction wasn't that we wouldn't go to Tenerife, but that she couldn't. I rifled through my hand luggage, looking for enough cash to press in her little hand, so she could be bundled into a cab, to spend a week at her granny's in less-than-sunny south-west London.

But the check in assistant was very helpful: she said that because Storme's passport was less than one year out of date, neither the airline nor the Spanish authorities would mind.

We were flying with My Travel (mytravel.com). Our experience would have been very different if it had been Ryanair. The last time we flew with them to Ireland, a passenger in front of us was similarly checking in when it was discovered her passport had just expired. Ryanair was adamant that she could not board. She was travelling with husband and two children, who had to fly without her. This was despite the fact that, technically, you don't need a passport for Ireland; it's just Ryanair's company rules.

The passport office website, which also has a good section on children's passports, says you must carry a passport to Spain (ukpa.gov.uk). But the chances of someone refusing entry to a child with an out-of-date passport accompanying her family must be remote. It's good to see that some airlines apply common sense rather than red tape. Storme, at least, was very glad. And so was granny.

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