Mum blasts Newport Passport Office for application delays

Claire Fernyhough and her teenage son are desperate to go away on their first family holiday after the pandemic, but now she fears they will miss out because an application for his passport has sat in Newport for 12 weeks.

Countless phone calls and hours spent on hold have proved fruitless as she is bounced between departments and given inconsistent advice, leaving her feeling "at the end of my tether".

Her account is the latest in a flurry of complaints about Passport Office delays in Newport and at other regional branches, fuelling wider travel chaos as we move out of the pandemic.

The prime minister recently threatened to privatise the Home Office agency unless the situation improves.

In Ms Fernyhough's case, the delays mean she and her son's £1500 summer holiday to Kos hangs in the balance - if she is forced to cancel, she will lose at least £550 of what she has paid.

Claire Fernyhough and son Tristan Astbury are hoping to visit Kos for a summer holiday, but it depends on delays at Newport's passport office.

She sent son Tristan's application for a new passport in late February, when he was aged 15. But delays meant he turned 16 in April while still waiting for his new documents - the Passport Office only informed Ms Fernyhough on May 23, however.

"I’ve been ringing the Passport Office virtually every day since to try and get an update on his application," she said.

"We weren’t given the option in that letter to pay the difference between the two application fees and are still waiting for them to call and take the payment.

"I’ve been on the phone to them this morning [Saturday] for 40 minutes during which I spoke to four different people until the final one was honest and said nobody was in to take the payment."

She added: "I honestly don’t think we’ll have this passport in time, even though we applied in February. Every time I speak to someone I get told different information."

That information has reportedly included one person saying they would need to come to Newport for an interview, but that advice was almost immediately dismissed by another member of staff Ms Fernyhough spoke with.

"It's been going on for weeks and I'm no closer to getting it solved," she said. "I know I'm not the only one going through this."

She added: "There's no consistency in the messaging they're giving me - it's so frustrating.

"I'm at the end of my tether."

A Passport Office spokesperson confirmed the agency had asked people to allow up to 10 weeks when making applications, and said current increased demand was because five million people had delayed their passport application "due to the pandemic".

They added: “To deal with this unprecedented demand, we have increased staff numbers by 650 and are in the process of recruiting another 550.

"This has helped us to handle more applications than ever before, with nearly two million passport applications processed in April and March 2022.

“The latest figures show 90 per cent were completed within six weeks. But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.”