A FAMILY were left bemused after their daughter passed through passport control at a Turkish airport using a passport identifying her as a unicorn.

The girl’s mother, Nicky Harris, explained that on May 28, she, husband Allen and their daughter, Emily, arrived at Antalya airport in Turkey, to start their one week family holiday.

Mrs Harris, from Pontnewydd, Cwmbran, picked up what she thought were their three passports from her bag to hand to the woman at passport control.

The officer checked the passports, and even asked Emily her age, to which Emily replied “nine”, before she stamped them and let the family through.

It was only when they got outside that Mrs Harris realised that instead of handing in Emily’s passport, she had shown her daughter’s Design-a-Bear passport for a Unicorn toy called Lily Harris.

She said: “I didn’t realise until I was putting the passports away. There was a moment of panic when I thought someone would come chasing after us, but nothing.”

She explained that the passport didn’t even look real, being a different size, featuring gold teddy bears on the front and the picture ID was of the toy.

She added: “We saw the funny side and laughed at the fact that the officer had even stamped the passport.

“But at the same time, it’s a worry to any parent how easy it would be to smuggle a child through customs and into another country.”

Even though Lily’s passport was stamped, the toy wasn’t even on the family holiday and had been left at home in Cwmbran.