A mum was left in tears outside Liverpool passport office as she spent her five-year-old son’s birthday in hour-long queues rather than on a family holiday.
Sarah McConnell, 40, was supposed to fly to Cuba on Monday morning but was instead left stranded after losing her son Corey’s passport. She had flown from Belfast to Manchester Airport on Sunday night in preparation for the trip but the family are now stuck as they cannot fly back to Northern Ireland without alternative documents for Corey.
Faced with being forced to get a ferry back to Belfast, Ms McConnell paid £100 to get a taxi from Manchester to Liverpool passport office on Monday morning in the hope of getting a new passport sorted. Ms McConnell said: "We were meant to be going to Cuba for a holiday but now we can't even get back home.
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“They don't offer you any help over the phone or anything. I couldn't get through. I just kept getting cut off and there was no helpline. I just need to talk to someone who can give me some advice. I've been queueing for over an hour but others have been here since 6am. No one wants to take responsibility.”
The mum was unable to apply for an emergency travel document because she is in the UK rather than abroad. She added: “We don't even have coats because we didn't expect to be in Liverpool, we expected to be in Cuba."
Ms McConnell was not alone as dozens of people queued up outside the passport office on Monday despite official advice stating that face-to-face passport services are available by appointment only. Lizzie Greenwood, 25, had also travelled to Liverpool from Manchester to try and get a new passport in time for her prepaid trip to Italy next week.
Ms Greenwood said: "Even if you fast track the passport - you still need to allow for a week and I can’t keep taking holiday from my job to get in the queue. If I can’t get seen today, I’m going to lose hundreds of pounds.”
Ms Greenwood, who lost her passport on Sunday night, arrived in Liverpool in the early hours of the morning but could still not be confident of being seen as people waited hours outside the office for an appointment. She said: “I had a similar situation a few years ago when I lost my passport and it wasn't anything like this - I was in and out in about an hour."
Alfie, 18, travelled to Liverpool from Preston to renew his papers. The teenager submitted his application 11 weeks ago but has still not received his passport, despite the Home Office aiming to issue passports within 10 weeks.
He told the ECHO: "I've been queueing since half 8 and it's now midday. I've also been told that I won't be seen by anyone today.
"Over the phone I've been passed from department to department, how have they allowed it to get to this point? I'm working everyday this week so I can't come back anytime soon." There has been a surge in passport applications as more people have begun to travel abroad again following the pandemic.
The ECHO has documented huge queues outside Liverpool Passport Office as it struggles to cope with the increased demand. A HM Passport Office spokesperson said: “Staff are processing approximately 250,000 passport applications each week and between March and May 98.5% 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 five million people delay their passport application due to the pandemic. Face-to-face passport services are only available by appointment.”
There are seven passport service centres dotted around the UK, one of which is based in Liverpool. The other offices are located in Belfast, Durham, Glasgow, London, Newport and Peterborough.
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