Couriers have lost thousands of passports and key documents in recent years a Freedom of Information request has revealed. A request to the Passport Office showed that in 2018 it issued 6,681,299 passports and some 422 passports or “supporting documents” were lost “during delivery by courier” - 0.006%.
The figures were broadly similar the following year when 6,707,500 were issued and 437 were lost, reports The Mirror. In 2020, during lockdown, the number of passports issued plummeted to 3,948,060 - but the number lost while being dispatched climbed to 519.
And in 2021 4,823,620 passports were issued but the number lost during delivery by courier in just the first half of the year spiralled to 1,196. Prospect union general secretary Mike Clancy said: “Lack of government investment has already caused passport chaos, with many families facing huge uncertainty about whether they will get away for a break this summer. Now we find out that the privatised delivery service is losing passports at a record rate too.
