A family face missing a £7,000 holiday with their terminally ill gran due to lengthy waits at the Passport Office.
Sophie Fleetwood had been due to jet off to Pegasos Royal in Alanya, Turkey at the start of the pandemic, but had to cancel their family getaway twice due to travel restrictions.
Two years on and the Reading woman is finally poised to head to the sun-drenched resort with her husband, three kids, dad and step-mum at the beginning of June.
They now face missing the trip for good and losing £7,350 because their passports have not arrive.
The family sent off for five new travel documents on April 7, when the predicted wait was seven weeks - although the Passport Office did urge people to leave ten weeks for them to arrive due to a huge backlog at the organisation.
A month and a half on and Sophie has no idea when then passports will arrive.
"The holiday is really important to us," Sophie, 28, told the Mirror.
"We are going with my dad and step mum. My step mum has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has been granted a fit to fly note by her doctor for us to go away together.
"This could potentially be the last time we go away together as a family. We've also been given permission from the children's school to take them out for this holiday too.
"The children know of the holiday and as you can imagine are so excited."
Like many families, the Fleetwoods had to move their holiday during the pandemic because of travel restrictions.
When they'd first booked the luxury getaway, the trip had little significance beyond being a great opportunity to have fun.
In the two years since handing over their deposit, Sophie's step-mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Determined to spend some time together abroad in what may be their final holiday together, the step-mum acquired a fit-to-fly letter from her doctor.
All seemed set, until the wait for passports got longer and longer.
"We applied for our passports with a 7 week wait on April 7," Sophie continued.
"There has been no update on our passports and we have no idea if we are ever going to get them back in time for that date.
"I've seen lots of stories all over the media about people missing their holidays. We have spoken to TUI and we can't move the holiday so we will lose that and all the money we have spent.
"We are waiting for five passports - one adult and four children. If the passports don't come, no one will go.
"I have emailed several different emails for the Passport Office. I've had phone calls and had an urgent call back.
"Each person I spoke to told me something different and I was told I just needed to be patient."
The typical wait for a passport is around five weeks, but target waiting time has been increased on HM Passport Office website to 10 weeks as officials struggle to keep up with demand.
The backlog has been blamed on a sudden rush in demand for new passports following a lull during the two years of Covid-enforced travel restrictions.
A Passport Office spokesperson said: “Since April 2021, we’ve clearly stated that people should allow up to ten weeks when applying for their passport to factor in the increased demand, which has seen 5 people million people delay their passport application due to the pandemic.
“The overwhelming majority of applications are completed within 10 weeks, with the latest figures showing 90% were completed within 6 weeks.
"But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.”
TUI have been contacted for comment.
