A long-awaited family holiday has been thrown into doubt as the six-year-old daughter's passport has been delayed. Mum Katie Wilson, 23, is fretting about her June 2 aeroplane booking because little Lexi-Mae's all-important passport has been delayed due to processing hold-ups.
The single mum-of-two from Speke, Liverpool, applied for first-time passports for herself, her daughter and her son Leighton-Stanley, four, on January 1. She was planning ahead for the family trip to Tenerife on June 2.
Katie said her own passport arrived in March, followed by Leighton-Stanley's in April. But, despite sending all three applications off together her daughter's passport is still yet to arrive.
On April 26, Katie said she was asked to send her documents off for a second time to support her daughter's application after they were returned to her by the passport office. With just 10 days left until they are set to go on holiday, Katie said she's struggling to sleep at night due to the stress, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Katie told the ECHO: "I sat down with my six year old daughter to explain the best I could 'we're waiting on your passport and I'm trying the very hardest I can to resolve it and get your passport but we might not be able to go' - and the devastated look on her face was awful.
"I don't want to let me children down, I want them to have that wish and give them what I never had when I was younger. I never went abroad when I was younger, it was my chance to do it for them."
Katie claims she has been passed from "pillar to post" by the passport office and the only thing she knows is that her daughter's passport application is currently being processed in Durham. She added that it's the first time the family have gone on holiday abroad together and the trip is made even more special by the fact it comes following a family member's recovery from breast cancer.
On Friday (May 20), Katie said she queued outside the passport office from 10.30am until it closed at 6pm. However, no one was available to help her, she said.
Katie said: "We were really excited, we couldn't wait and I've finally paid for this holiday and I was finally going to take my children away and make memories with them and go and have lots of fun and obviously I've got no excitement and no hope. I'm not sleeping properly, I'm not eating property, my skin is awful because of all the stressing I'm doing. I don't know what more I can do, I've done everything I can."
A HM 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 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.”
