A South Shields mum has hit out at passport office delays as she faces a race against time to bring her father-in-law's ashes to Madeira.
Lindsey Figueira has spent months anxiously waiting for her passport to arrive so she can travel to a family memorial in Portugal on July 25.
The 41-year-old applied for her passport to be renewed on April 28 so that she could travel with her partner and 12-year-old son, Jose Figueira, to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of her father-in-law. But after waiting almost 12 weeks for the HM Passport Office to deal with her application, the mum fears that she may be unable to travel with her family.
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Lindsey said she had contacted the HM Passport Office, which deals with passport applications, multiple times but has been told conflicting advice on when she might expect it and what she can do to speed up the process. And Lindsey, who has Crohn's Disease, says the stress of the process has taken its toll on her health.
"I applied for my passport back in April as I need to travel on July 25 to take my father-in-law’s ashes back to Madeira for his year anniversary so his family can put them with other family members," she said.
"I have Crohn's Disease and one of the biggest [triggers] is stress. I have explained that to them [the HM Passport Office] that I am going to be ill. I was in tears on the phone.
"I asked to pay to escalate it but they said I can't do that as it's not a paper format. I have waited 12 weeks now."
She continued: "I have been so stressed, it's not right. It has had a massive impact on my health.
"I have to have extra insurance because of my health and I can't sort this out until I get my passport."
Lindsey's father-in-law Jose Figueira died aged 73 after a brave battle with prostate cancer. His last request was for his ashes to be brought to Maderia where he is from and where his family still lives.
"He wanted to die over there but had to come back here and unfortunately he passed away here," Lindsey.
"He always said that he wanted to go back."
But Lindsey fears that if her passport does not arrive in time her son and partner will have to travel alone.
"My son cried his eyes out when I told him," she said.
"He is devastated because he needs his mum to support him."
After Chronicle Live contacted the Home Office about Lindsey's case, they confirmed that her passport had been printed on Monday morning (July 18) and will be sent out to her address "very shortly."
However, Lindsey still faces an anxious wait and has slammed the HM Passport Office for the delays in processing passports.
"I just wish the Passport Office would all learn to sing from the same hymnbook," said.
"No matter who you speak to they all give misinformation. It is incompetent really. It would help with less calls going into the customer services if they all said the same thing and made records on your account. It would stop so much hassle."
The HM Passport Office said staff are "working tirelessly to deal with record demand," processing around three million passport applications between March and May 2022. It said the vast majority of passport applications are completed within the ten-week guidance and in May more than 91% of applications from the UK were completed within six weeks.
It advised people not to book travel until they have a valid passport and stressed that a British passport will not be issued until all checks are satisfactorily completed. If further information is needed, applications may take longer.
It said it has hired 850 staff since April 2021 to keep up with the demand and is in the process of recruiting another 350
A HM Passport Office spokesman said: “Between March and May, we processed approximately three million applications, and 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.
“For the small percentage of customers whose applications take longer than ten weeks, there is an expedited service at no additional cost to help ensure that they receive their passport ahead of their travel.”
The HM Passport Office advised customers to call the Passport Advice Line on 0300 222 0000 if they have a query relating to their specific passport application.
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