Gulliver | UK passports

Papers in order?

By B.R.

THESE are worrying times for British travellers awaiting passports for imminent trips. Applications are at a 12-year high according to the government, due in part to sunny weather and the improving economy. The Passport Office is currently coping with nearly half a million forms. Or not coping, depending on whom you believe.

Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, has claimed that “tens of thousands” of Brits may have to cancel their holidays because of a backlog; although ABTA, a travel agents' association, says there is no sign that this is happening yet . The chief executive of the Passport Office, Paul Pugh, countered that 99% of "straightforward applications" had been processed within four weeks (the office sets a target of a three-week turnaround).The government also denied there was a problem. Speaking on the BBC, James Brokenshire, a Home Office minister, said that 150,000 passports were being sent out every week and an extra hundred staff were being drafted in to deal with the demand. A new office is also being opened in Liverpool. Still, as the government accepts that the increase in applications was spotted at the beginning of the year, one may well ask why it has taken until June for extra measures to be put in place.

Nerves will not be soothed by photographs of Passport Office meeting rooms stacked high with applications. The furore is bound to persuade more people to shell out £103 ($173) for a fast-track service, in which passports are supposed to be delivered within a week, or £128 for the pleasure of queuing up at a passport office for a same-day service (although these are only available for those renewing not applying for the first time). For those who do not feel inclined to pay extra, the best advice (other than to apply in plenty of time) is to ensure there are no mistakes on the paperwork. Anyone who has ever waded through the impossibly strict rules defining what is an admissible passport photo will tell you this not necessarily straightforward.

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