A MAN who conquered a 15-year phobia of flying was barred from a flight for a celebratory holiday at the Monaco Grand Prix because his passport was “frayed” at the edge.

Greg Howe, 37, underwent numerous therapy sessions and was prescribed anti-anxiety drugs before he agreed to go on the trip of a lifetime.

But after beating his fears he was turned away at the airport because the laminate cover on his passport had started to peel away at the corner.

Greg, from Bournemouth, begged Flybe staff at Southampton Airport to let him on the flight to Nice but to no avail.

He dashed to Bournemouth Airport, where the same passport was accepted – but there were no flights in time.

He thought about driving the 1,000 miles to the south of France but couldn't because of the prescribed drugs he had taken.

He later received a standard email from Flybe asking if he had a good flight. This came on top of a plethora of “wish you were here” texts and photos sent from his friends jollying it up in Monaco.

Greg said: “I couldn’t believe that after everything I have been through and after all the good work I wasn’t allowed on the plane because my passport was frayed at the corner.”

The staff said that I could have tampered with it.

“They made me feel like a criminal, like a terrorist.”

Greg, who runs a company that designs and builds skate parks, has taken holidays abroad before but has always gone by ferry and car.

Earlier this year, he had six sessions with a therapist to overcome his flying phobia.

Two months ago he finally plucked up the courage to get on a plane to go on a holiday to Fuerteventura and his passport was accepted that time.

Then his friends arranged the celebratory weekend away to Monaco for the Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Greg said: “I saw my doctor before I went and he prescribed me with diazepam to calm my nerves.

“It was going to be the trip of a lifetime. We had booked up a trip on a luxury yacht and a tour of the race track before watching the Grand Prix.”

Flybe said it had no choice but to refuse Greg permission to board the plane after consulting border agencies in the UK and France.

A spokesman said: “His passport had been clearly mutilated with the corner cut off as it would be had it been cancelled.

“It was also in a very poor condition overall with the machine readable strip in such bad repair that the document would not scan.”

He added: “He would therefore have been refused entry into France with the likelihood of Flybe having to accept responsibility and being financially penalised by the French government.”