A mum-of-four says she has to sell her dream family holiday due to delays in her son’s replacement passport application. Samantha Smith, 28, and her family were set to go on holiday to Spain, but she said she is now trying to sell the holiday on Facebook after a hold up in the application for her youngest son's new passport.
Samantha along with her husband Mark, and their children four-year-old Roman, eight-year-old Theodore, six-year-old Benjamin and Mark’s 11-year-old daughter, Darcie were looking forward to their holiday but she says the situation has been 'awful'.
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Lancs Live reports that Samantha, from from Whittle-le-Woods near Chorley, has been waiting for a replacement passport for her four-year-old son since March when the family realised his passport had got lost after booking the week long self catering holiday to Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava. Despite applying for a replacement, she says she has faced delays, being passed from one team to another, and jammed phone lines, with the result that she has now given up all hope of getting it in time for the family holiday.
She said: “It’s awful - it’s for my four year old son, Roman. He had a passport and we lost it; we turned the house upside down looking for it and this was in March, 11 weeks before a week long family holiday we had booked to Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava in Spain, with the school’s approval.”
Samantha was concerned because his application wasn’t progressing and eventually managed to get through to someone at the passport office on the phone who told her that they needed a reference number for his lost passport and said one would be provided after helping her to cancel the lost passport over the phone.
But when the passport office rang back a few days later with the vital reference number, around April 10, she says she was asked to ring them back to speak to a different team. She told Lancs Live: “I said, you’re joking it’s outrageous, but they said it’s a different team.”
Samantha then tried to ring back, as advised and was told to call back again the following Monday which she tried to no avail, since the lines were jammed. She told Lancs Live: “They said ring back Monday, to give us your reference number but when I did, they were swamped.
“I tried for four weeks, and I sent 10 inquiry forms with references on. I rang at 8am every day and it would say, due to high call volume, we cannot accept your call; there was not even an option to wait in a queue. You could speak to an advisory team but not to the people in charge of progressing it. “
Eventually Samantha resorted to sending the vital reference number to them via a written letter to the passport offices in Belfast in the middle of May. She says she has since been told that the matter is being examined, with no further details or confirmation of when it will be issued.
And due to the fact that the family were due to fly out on June 16 for their week long holiday, she fears time is running out so she is now resorting to selling the family holiday on social media in a desperate bid to salvage at least some of the £2000 they have spent.
She said: “We were looking forward to this much needed family holiday. My little boy has just been diagnosed with autism, we have had a horrific time, like everybody, with Covid, and we have been saving. We are just a normal family, and we have rent to pay; it’s not like we have got two grand to waste on a holiday, we deserve a little holiday.”
The family had booked a seven days’ self-catering holiday in an Airbnb and separate flights, flying from Manchester Airport to Girona on June 16 and returning on June 23, for Samantha, husband Mark Smith, four year old Roman and sons, eight year old Theodore, and Benjamin, six and Mark’s 11 year old daughter Darcie. She said: “I can sell this holiday, even if I only get half back, then I can save something of what should have been a family holiday. I’m trying to salvage anything I can at this point.
“They say don’t book a holiday until you have your passport, but you would think that 11 weeks to go should surely be enough time. I’ve been trying to sort this out every single day – this holiday has been approved by the school in term time but I don’t understand how the passport office can be so dismissive of other people’s time and money.”
In a post on Facebook, Samantha, who is a teacher, said: “Gutted to have to do this but I am selling my holiday, details are as follows… 6 guests: 2 adults and 4 children, Lloret De Mar, Spain, 16th June to 23rd June, from Manchester airport to Girona airport, RyanAir flights include priority boarding and 2 cabin bags per person, Air BnB, 3 bedroom apartment on the beach, self catering. I paid £1,800 for flights and accommodation. I am looking for around £1,500 which will include name changes.”
She added: “So on the 28th March I applied for my son’s passport and I have still not got it back. I have been calling every day, emailing all the upgrade teams and I would be going down to the passport office if it came to it but I don’t want to have the stress.
“I would like to sell my holiday and use the money to rebook somewhere else. I can not afford to lose the money so I would rather sell and wait for the passport to come through."
The Home Office was contacted by Lancs Live for a response. To view Samantha's post on Facebook, click here.
