Families desperate for a trip abroad this summer are at risk of missing out on their hard-earned holidays after passports and key documents were lost by couriers. Recruitment issues and massive backlogs are causing chaos for those who were hoping to get away for the first time since travel restrictions have eased.
While Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently threatened to privatise the Passport Office, new data reveals that the privatised delivery services are the ones at the heart of the problem. Despite the number of passports being sent out decreasing between 2020 and 2021 when travel restrictions were implemented, the amount lost by delivery courier TNT, which has the exclusive contract, shot up, reported The Mirror.
According to a Freedom of Information request to the Passport Office, 6,681,299 passports were issued in 2018 with around 422 passports or “supporting documents” lost “during delivery by courier” or 0.006 per cent.
