In today’s DT
Holidaymakers were yesterday warned that the wait for a new passport is up to 10 weeks rather than the usual three, as civil servants continue to work from home.
HM Passport Office said travellers can expect delays as staff struggle with a surge in applications.
Urgent, face-to-face appointments usually arranged within two days are taking weeks in some cases.
It’s not just a case of being “wise after the event” though, is it?
We were warned last year.
Last summer’s backlog of applications which a Whitehall source warned could happen again this year
Officials last night apologised on social media after people said they had been forced to cancel their holidays while waiting for their documents. Claire Mochar said she had been waiting for her son’s renewed passport from HM Passport Office in Durham since applying on July 16
“ At this rate I’m going to ruin my kids’ summer holidays. “
Did it never occur to anybody to use the time during lockdown to renew their passports in advance?
Granted they might lose a few months as the new passport takes immediate effect, but given that travel to some destinations requires 6 months on a passport before expiry, it seems a reasonable precaution.
It is especially worth checking young children’s passport expiry dates as theirs are only for 5 years (a mistake my D and SIL made a few years ago when they were within 3 days of their annual skiing holiday and found that GS’s passport had already expired !) They were lucky - a mercy dash to Newport for a face to face interview and sympathetic officials made it possible but it’s not a mistake they will make again. I renewed mine online before Brexit (possibly panicked into it) but still it meant it was quick and easy to do as there was no long wait.
