A mum fears that her holiday might not happen as her four-month wait for a passport renewal goes on.
Cathy Doolan, 51, from Litherland, applied for a renewal of her 11-year-old daughter's passport in February. However, a number of problems have meant she has not yet received the passport.
With a holiday to Majorca with her daughter booked for next month, Cathy now faces a race against time to get the passport sorted. Four months after beginning the process, Cathy worries she is getting nowhere and has been left furious with the service that she has received from the passport office.
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The first hurdle came in the form of the passport photo. The single mum told the ECHO: “In February, my friend counter-signed the passport for me and the passport office sent me an email to say that my friend had done that. They said they had the counter signature and told me what to do next.
“I then had problems with my daughter’s photograph. Every time I took a photograph. It said it would be accepted by the passport office. And then about a week later, they sent it back and said that they weren’t accepting it.”
Matters worsened by May. Cathy said: “Then I got a message from the passport office to say that my friend hadn't responded to the counter signature, and I'd have to find somebody else to take it on.”
“But my friend sent me a WhatsApp to say that she had responded. She showed me pictures, because they send it all through post at this stage, not email. She had sent that away and they had accepted the photograph.
“Then the straw that broke the camel's back was - I've been on the phone to the passport office that many times but you can't get hold of anybody who knows what they're talking about, but they sent me a letter through the post with my daughter's photograph.
"It said: ‘we’ve accepted the photograph, but we can't accept your counter signature’. They said I’d have to find somebody else."
"My problem is that I’m a single mum who doesn’t work, so I don't know many professional people. These two people I asked are professional people and they are the only professional people I know.”
“At this stage, I didn’t know what to do. I was in floods of tears. “I've got a holiday booked but I would never have booked a holiday if I’d known all this rubbish was going to go on.”
Cathy is due to fly to Majorca from Manchester Airport next month, which she said adds another level of stress - due to chaos and long queues seen in recent months. However, she is not sure whether the holiday will even get that far.
She added: “She's (her friend) actually sent the documents and counter signature to them, they're saying they haven't received them. But they've emailed me to say that they have received them.
"Then they're sending me letters to say that they haven't received them and I need to find somebody else. So I'm just stuck in a catch-22 situation.
"I have rung the passport on that many occasions. They say we'll get a manager to ring you back within 72 hours and they never do. I don't know what I'm going to do. I’m absolutely sick to death of ringing the passport office because you’re on hold for so long and they play stupid music. Then you get hold of a person who doesn’t have a clue.”
“It's an absolute disaster. I am beside myself. Every time we speak about it I want to cry.”
Cathy added that she got a call back from the passport office on Thursday (June 30). She told the ECHO that it left her "even more frustrated than ever" as she was not given any answers or an apology for the length of time it has taken so far.
Cathy's is a familiar story as the ECHO has documented huge queues outside the Liverpool Passport Office as they struggle to cope with the backlog.
A government spokesperson previously told the ECHO: "Since April 2021, we've clearly stated that people should allow up to 10 weeks when applying for their passport to factor in the increased demand, which has seen five million people delay their passport application due to the pandemic.
"The latest figures show that over 90% of applications have been completed within six weeks. But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling."
The passport office has been contacted for comment.
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