A dad who spent five months trying to renew his daughter's passport has described “bedlam” at a Passport Office where he claims people queueing were in tears.
The man from Lancaster, who did not wish to be named, endured a five-month ordeal getting his daughter's passport renewed after the initial application was rejected when a phone operator claimed the person who co-signed her photo did not exist.
He travelled to Liverpool Passport Office on July 6 to try and resolve the problem after an “abominable” experience attempting to get the matter sorted over the phone.
The Liverpool Echo reports that the dad was only able to get his six-year-old daughter's renewal processed after he was seen without an appointment.
The phone operator had initially signed off his other daughter's passport the same day without any issue, before raising the issue with the photo.
The Passport Office attempted to send the old passport back but it got lost on the way.
In February, the family submitted a fresh application, without being refunded for the first.
The dad claimed "hours upon hours were spent on the telephone speaking to people who appeared to have no clue on the status of my daughter's passport".
He added: "People were telling me things weren't updating on the system. It remained static in the system despite them receiving the lost reference number to progress the application.
"No matter how many times I was ranting and raving on the phone to people I got nowhere - every person would tell me something different.
“I expected delays but was not prepared for this."
After nearly two hours on the phone last week the application was fast tracked but he never heard back.
As a last resort the dad decided to drive to Liverpool to try and be seen without an appointment.
The dad-of-two said: "As soon as I got there, there was a big queue. People had turned up from across the country.
“One man had driven from London despite living only 40 minutes away from the London office.
"Another couple told me they had left work in the morning from Birmingham without an appointment in the hope of getting back to their ailing family member in Pakistan.
“The woman was trying to hold back tears."
Staff gave people in the queue without appointments a ticket. The dad was eventually seen and within minutes his daughter's passport was printed.
He told the Liverpool Echo: "My daughter's case was just one in many.
"The backlogs are huge but the staff inside the Passport Office looked stressed.
“They were all doing their best to those who had turned up and I appreciate the hard work they are doing.
"They're just trying to do their job but the system is broken."
An HMPO spokesperson said: “We apologise for the delay issuing this passport.
“The overwhelming majority of applications are completed within 10 weeks, with the latest figures showing 90% were completed within six weeks.
“But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.”
