A mum lost £1,400 and missed what could have been a dying relative's final holiday after her one-year-old daughter's passport didn't arrive in time, she has claimed.
Rachel Brindle says she is desperate for answers and distraught following the ordeal.
The customer service manager from Sheldon, Birmingham had been due to go to Turkey with her partner and their children, aged one and three, in April, Birmingham Mail reported.
The holiday was a 60th birthday surprise for the kids' grandmother, who has terminal cancer.
The trip from Birmingham Airport to Ölüdeniz in Turkey went ahead but Rachel, 35, and her family were forced to miss out.
Her one-year-old's passport did not arrive, despite being ordered in March.
HM Passport Office said it was processing approximately 250,000 passport applications each week and advised all travellers not to book flights until they have a valid passport.
In May, more than 91 per cent of applications from the UK were completed within six weeks.
But for Rachel it meant missing the important family holiday.
She said she had been on the phone with the Passport Office constantly, written a letter of complaint to the Ombudsman, and even contacted her MP.
After Birmingham Mail got in touch with HM Passport Office, they contacted Rachel within a matter of hours, the paper claimed.
The mum-of-two said bosses had apologised and told her she would get the passport within days.
Despite the suddenly sped up service Rachel said the situation was such a "nightmare" that she still wanted to speak out.
"It's not for myself. It's not from a selfish point of view," the mum said.
"It's more to raise awareness and maybe HMPO can look at this and think of ways to communicate with people who are waiting.
"I really feel sorry for the call handlers and the agents that are on the calls. They can't tell you anything and they are at the front line and receive all the flak.
"They can tell you as much as we can see on our [online] tracker really. People call and wait hours on end and make multiple phone calls.
"My phone bill was an extra £46 that month for all the calls and I wasn't actually getting through to anybody."
A spokesperson for HM Passport Office said: “Staff are processing approximately 250,000 passport applications each week and between March and May 98.5 per cent of applications were completed within 10 weeks. But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.
“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.
"An expedited service is available at no additional cost to help the small percentage of people whose applications take longer than ten weeks to receive their passports before they travel.”
