Desperate holidaymakers have queued outside Newport 's passport office after reporting long delays for their travel documents.
A number of people queued outside the HM passport office at Mission Court in the city on Wednesday, June 1, after they faced long waits for their passport applications to be processed, with some reporting waiting longer than the ten-week waiting time and difficulties getting information before their holiday.
The Home Office, which administers passports, has advised people not to turn up to its offices without appointments. Travellers can apply for fast-track passports that require an appointment at a passport office to complete. Many holidaymakers have been complaining about months-long delays and miscommunication leaving them with no passport hours before they are due to travel. Queues have been reported outside passport offices around the UK this week including in Liverpool, where people were seen with camping chairs as they waited.
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Jade Cabell, 31, has been waiting for her children's passports for six weeks as she is due to fly to France with her family on Thursday. She was told to collect one of the passports from Newport on Tuesday, but after travelling from Yeovil she was told it had already been sent out. She has had to come up for a second day in order to get her other child's passport, which is being renewed.
"They told me to come and collect it and then when I arrived yesterday they said it had already been sent out and would arrive on June 4," she said. "I told them I was going away on June 2 and that's why I had asked them to hold it so I could collect it. We're travelling to France tomorrow and it'll be our first and last holiday before I start my nursing degree. It's been so stressful.
"I've been doing my A-levels while trying to sort this out and it has consumed me for the past two weeks. To be honest I'll probably have failed my A-levels over it. I've even emailed my local MP and called the mayor of where I live to try and sort it out."
Tara McLaren travelled from Devon on Tuesday with her partner and two kids. She has applied for a name change on her passport but has not had it back after ten weeks and is due to travel on Thursday.
"We came up and stayed in a hotel last night," she said. "We've been told we'll be waiting for four hours to have it printed. I don’t know what to do with two children for that long - we've got to find something for them to do while we wait outside. And we’ve got to go to London in the morning.
"It’s not even a new passport - I’m just changing my name as I’m married and wanted to go under my married name. When I rang them they told me if it hadn’t been upgraded I probably wouldn’t be going, without even looking at my application."
Luke Burton applied for his passport on March 22 and is due to travel to Turkey on Monday with his partner and children. He said people had been turning up outside the passport office - despite the instruction not to do so - in a last-ditch bid to get their passports printed.
"The people outside here have 48 hours to get their flight. I've got mine this morning but that isn't much use if I don’t have my partner and children’s ones, which we don't. People are just turning up to the office because they’ve been waiting so long. There’s no other way. It's not the advice they’re giving, but people have no other choice."
Another person in the queue, who didn't want to be named, said she'd been told she could only get an appointment in Peterborough despite living in Newport. "I’ve been phoning, phoning, phoning and coming here and getting nowhere," she said. "They’ve turned me away once already. I’ve been waiting since the start of April. I don’t know what I’ll do otherwise. Porthcawl looks a nice option!"
A government spokesperson said: "Since April 2021, we’ve clearly stated that people should allow up to ten weeks when applying for their passport to factor in the increased demand, which has seen five million people delay their passport application due to the pandemic.
"The latest figures show that over 90% of applications have been completed within six weeks. But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.”
