People brought camping chairs as they faced a long wait in the pouring rain outside Liverpool's Passport Office on Monday morning.
A video taken on Monday morning showed the queue stretching along Old Hall Street from outside the Passport Office on the corner of Brook Street, to the Radisson Blu Hotel. People sheltered under umbrellas as the working week began with rain in Liverpool city centre.
Anticipating a long wait, others brought camping chairs and took the weight off their feet as they remained in the slow-moving queue.
READ MORE: Mum slates passport office after 'four month' saga before first ever family holiday
A number of problems with HM Passport Office and its sites around the UK have been well publicised in recent months. The ECHO has heard from people who have queued from the early hours of the morning to be seen by a member of staff at the Old Hall Street office, which is one of just seven passport customer service centres in the UK.
Last week, mum-of-two Natalie Price told the ECHO of her four month battle to get a first passport for her son, slamming the process and saying she had "never experienced anything so difficult". Likewise, a family from Kirkby told the ECHO that their £3,000 holiday was in jeopardy as they were waiting in "limbo" for their baby's first passport.
HM Passport Office has warned people of delays in passport applications due to "unprecedented demand". Its website states: "There is no backlog in passport processing as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However, we are now seeing unprecedented demand as more than 5 million people delayed applying for passports during COVID-19 because of restrictions in international travel.
"Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) anticipate 9.5 million British passport applications will be made this year and in March 2022 alone, HMPO processed more than one million new passport applications, the highest output on record.
"In preparation for the demand for international travel returning, since April 2021 HMPO have been advising people to allow up to 10 weeks when applying for their British passport. This remains the case."
Last week, Boris Johnson said passport waiting times had reduced dramatically. During Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said the Government is "massively increasing the speed with which the Passport Office delivers". He said, to the best of his knowledge, "everybody’s getting their passport within four to six weeks".
In response, Louise Haigh, Labour’s shadow transport spokesperson, tweeted: “Did @BorisJohnson really just claim that ‘everyone is getting their passport back within 4-6 weeks’? The Passport Office's own guidance won't allow MPs to even contact them on behalf of our constituents until 10 weeks have passed.”
