MY husband, daughter and I were hoping to travel to Italy and Amsterdam next month, but have come up against difficulties with the online booking systems at both the German and Italian embassies.

E-mails asking for help go unanswered.

Myself and my daughter, as British citizens, have no need for visas to enter Italy, but my husband, as a Bahraini citizen, requires a Schengen visa.

He has made an online application to both embassies, but has been unable to get a date for an appointment before our travel date out of Bahrain.

He leaves Bahrain on August 14 to come to the UK and then we have flights and hotels booked in Italy on August 17.

He has completed all the documentation required for the visa, but the online appointment system is showing that the first dates available for appointments to hand in the documentation is in September, which is after the dates of travel!

He has been trying to access the online appointment system for a week now, which was still one month before our departure dates, but with no success.

In order to make an application for the Schengen visa, we had to book flights and hotel accommodation.

Now it seems if he cannot get an appointment, we will have to cancel our trip, which will result in us losing 25 per cent of the cost of THREE tickets (myself, our daughter and my husband).

It seems that as the embassies only give appointments at half hourly intervals from 9.30am to midday, four days a week, very few people are able to get an appointment during this busy holiday period.

Perhaps to help deal with the volume of applications during the summer months, the embassies should consider opening for a longer period of time for visa appointments, five or six days a week.

Or perhaps they don’t want Gulf visitors in Europe?
Fiona Andrews