If you have applied for a new passport or renewal and awaiting it for your travel plans this summer,you could be in for a rude awakening.
Families hit by the passport crisis are being asked to pay £55 extra a person to save their summer holidays.
With passport staff struggling to clear a backlog of half a million applications, holidaymakers and business travellers face losing costly trips abroad.
Officials are now offering to fast-track their documents for £55.50 on top of the £72.50 standard fee.
Tens of thousands of applications wait to be processed at the Liverpool passport office, one of seven around the country. The picture was taken by a disillusioned staff member
Waiting game: Stacks of passport applications wait to be processed in Liverpool, and with passport staff struggling to clear a backlog, holidaymakers and business travellers face losing costly trips abroad
Angry families said they were being held to ransom. And in stormy exchanges in the Commons, Theresa May was accused of complacency. MPs told the Home Secretary their constituents
were panicking at the prospect of not being able to travel.
Audrey Strong, 67, from Timsbury, near Bath, said her 94-year-old mother paid the levy to be able to go on a cruise. She added: ‘They’re holding people to ransom. It’s disgusting – I don’t think she should have to pay all that money, but she did it because she would have lost her holiday otherwise.’
Parents already pay a premium during school breaks because travel firms, airlines and hotels raise prices. And if a family of four wanted to ensure they had passports in time they would have to pay an extra £222 –the cost of the four-hour collection service.
Mrs May played down the problems, insisting the vast majority of applicants were receiving their passports in time.
But David Hanson, Labour immigration spokesman, said: ‘It is clear Theresa May is now burying her head in the sand and ignoring the overwhelming evidence of families across the country suffering delays, stress and heartache over their summer holidays and trips abroad. ****
The Home Office website advises it takes three weeks to renew a passport or obtain one for a child. For a new adult passport, it usually takes six weeks.
But some travellers have complained it is taking up to 16 weeks.Challenged over the crisis during the Queen’s Speech debate at Parliament, Mrs May insisted the Passport Office was meeting its targets despite unprecedented demand.
She rejected claims the service was at risk of breaking down and said resources had been increased.
Despite the rush in new applications and renewals, 97 per cent of standard applications had been dealt with within the three-week target, she claimed.
The Home Office said the Passport Office has redeployed more than 200 staff – some from anti-fraud duties – to frontline operations. It has also boosted the number of call centre staff from 350 to 1,000.
Passport offices are now working from 7am to midnight every day in a bid to clear the backlog.
Mrs May added: ‘We are not complacent about this issue, we are continuing to look to see if there are further contingency measures that need to be put into place.’
The PCS union has threatened strike action unless the management addresses the backlogs as well as pay and conditions at the agency.
source DailyMail uk
source DailyMail uk