A woman who has travelled from London to Liverpool for her passport faces an anxious wait as she is due to fly to an audition next week.
Holiday-goers have been inundated with added stress over recent months as they face turmoil over long waiting times for their passports. Further delays have been reported in airports across the UK as families face huge queues and flight cancellations.
But the passport woes are far from over as people arrive at passport offices across the country in desperate attempts to get their documents in time for their much-needed getaways.
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Charlotte Hoather, 28, has also found herself travelling from as far as London to Liverpool. She applied for her passport almost seven weeks ago after being invited to a casting call for an opera in Germany, the Times reported. She is due to fly on June 8 for a final audition, but has not got her passport.
She said: "We’ve sat here through the pouring rain this morning, and there were a lot more people sat with us this morning who have lost out on the chance to go because of childcare and work commitments which is rather sad."
Last week, Boris Johnson said passport waiting times had reduced dramatically. During Prime Minister's Questions, 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".
But huge queues have been seen building outside Liverpool's Passport Office as hundreds of frustrated people face poor weather conditions to wait. Queues have been seen stretching along Old Hall Street from outside the Passport Office on the corner of Brook Street, to the Radisson Blu Hotel.
People shelter under umbrellas as some even bring camping chairs anticipating the long waits. It comes after a number of problems with HM Passport Office and its sites around the UK which have been well publicised in recent months.
Earlier this week, one dad queued for 24 hours in Liverpool city centre to renew his diabetic son’s passport. Phil Corns and his wife Jayne had previously travelled up to Liverpool from Newcastle-under-Lyme twice before but left the city empty handed but decided to try his luck again on May 31 after finishing a 12-hour shift.
A Home Office spokesperson said people should allow ten weeks for their passports, the Times reports. She added: "The overwhelming majority of applications are completed within ten weeks, with the latest figures showing 90 per cent were completed within six weeks. But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling."
Hundreds of holidays are on the line as people make desperate attempts to be seen at passport offices, despite not having an appointment. One man waited in a queue "all day" to get his granddaughter's passport so he can take her to Disneyland for her birthday.
Simon Cross, 62, is from Coventry but e nded up at Liverpool's passport office after being sent around the country in a hectic bid to get his granddaughter a passport in time for their trip to Disneyland Paris. The grandad arrived in Liverpool on a Tuesday, where he waited "all day" before being told to drive over 100 miles back home and come back on the Thursday.
