In what might be the most outrageous cases of 'should've gone to Specsavers', a grandad's dream of visiting New York are in tatters after he accidentally declared he was a terrorist on the US visa form.
John Stevenson, 70, and his wife Marion, 71, had their holiday all planned out, having spent a whopping £2,000 ($2,500) on accomodation and flights which are headed to America on 3 December.
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But poor John - a taxi driver by trade - mistakenly clicked the wrong box on the 'Esta' visa form and now it looks like the whole thing is ruined.
John said: "I even called border control in the US and gave them my passport details - they looked up my Esta number and said 'you're a terrorist'.
"I told them that I was 70 years old and I don't even recognise what that means. It the biggest nightmare I've ever had.
"My phone could be getting tapped - I don't know."
Marion, 71, added: "We were meant to be going away on December 3. It's terrible, it's shocking and so stupid.
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"I don't know why that question is on the form in the first place."
We've got to hand it to Marion right there, the woman makes a good point. Surely no terrorist in this world would be stupid enough to tick the 'yes' box? And it's people like John who have to deal with the fallout of this poorly positioned question.
Right now, Christmas is set to be cancelled for the couple, as in order to rectify the situation, they'd need to get to a London embassy so that John could be quizzed by officials. Bear in mind that they live in Inverclyde, Scotland.
John added: "My wife and I have been to New York and America before but we always wanted to see the lights.
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"You see it in all the films and we thought this is maybe the last time we will be able to go as we're not getting any younger.
"We were filling out the visa form and it kept timing out before we could tick all the boxes, then it crashed and when it came back up, you start where you finish off.
"My wife's form came back and it was fine but I was told the visa had been refused because I was a terrorist.
"One of the questions asks if you are a terrorist and it must have jumped from No to Yes without me knowing.
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"I'm devastated. I've never been in trouble in my life. The only time I've been in court was for jury service and now I've been treated like a criminal. Marion is sick about it.
"We can't even reschedule because I don't know if I'll ever get back into America."
It's not looking too great for John right now - if only he'd ticked 'no' instead of 'yes', goddammit. Here's hoping he and Marion are able to sort the situation out and get to New York to see those lights. We're keeping our fingers and toes cross!
Featured Image Credit: SWNSTopics: UK News, US News, travel