Mum’s fury as her daughter’s passport is ‘signed for by a stranger’ when a courier tried to deliver it – leaving her £1,500 out of pocket
Chloe Nicou says she has lost all trust in the passport office after she says she never received her six-year-old daughter's passport, but the company claimed it had been delivered
A MUM was forced to fork out £1,500 extra on a late holiday after the delivery signature for her daughter's passport was allegedly faked - with a cross.
Chloe Nicou, 35, claims the passport was not delivered to her home and by the time a replacement arrived the price of her holiday had doubled.
The furious bank clerk has now accused the passport office of "faking" the signature.
Chloe had hoped to book a week-long holiday to Greece with her six-year-old daughter Zoe and her parents in July for just over £1,000, but ended up shelling out just under £3,000 as she missed out on a bargain.
But due to the passport arriving after it was ordered in June, and a replacement not delivered until August she was forced to pay about an extra £1,500 when she was finally able to book.
Chloe, from Tottenham, north London, told The Sun Online: "By the end of it it was a mixture of angry and stressed.
"I sent off for the passport about the beginning of June.
"I received a letter to say that that was ok and that I was going to be processed.
"I received a text message saying that it would be with me in the next couple of days and what happened was I waited and waited and I waited, and I thought I would ring up."
She called the passport office to see what had happened and spoke to someone who confirmed the passport had been delivered.
Chloe was adamant that at the time she was told it had been delivered by courier, 3.49pm on July 14, she and her entire family were out of the house at her daughter's school fair.
She was nonplussed as to who would have signed for the passport - her neighbours are her blind granfather, and another woman who does not answer the door to strangers - and told her contact at the passport office it had not been delivered.
The passport office insisted it had been delivered and asked if it was under the doormat, had gone under furniture or had been hidden in her daughter's toy box.
An investigation was carried out and found to be in favour of the courier and the delivery - which Chloe says never took place.
She made a complaint to the office after she was sent evidence of the delivery - a photograph of her front door and the signature.
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She said: "The signature was ridiculous, you know when you’re too lazy to do an ‘x’, that’s what it was.
"I said ‘the door number is right but are you being serious, that’s not a signature’.”
The situation became more stressful for her and her family as he ex-partner, her daughter's father, started accusing Chloe of constructing the problems deliberately so their daughter could not go on holiday with him.
Eventually a new passport was sent out to her daughter in the mid-August, but Chloe said "by this time my trust was gone" and made sure it was delivered.
Once it had arrived she decided to get away with her family, as he father had been ill and this would be the first holiday they had gone on since 2012.
She said: "I spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday trying to look for flights to go and see my family in Greece.
"I thought everyone needs a holiday, I thought I was just going to do it – but the prices were ridiculous. The price had tripled.
“We ended up having to have a one bedroom apartment in the middle of nowhere. We ended up leaving the next day as we felt unsafe."
Following this "ordeal" she made another complaint with the passport office.
She added: “I’m hopefully not going to sound out of order but a bit of compensation would be nice – the stress we’ve had and I’m out of pocket."
A letter came back to her which she says said: “Something to the effect of we believe the courier system and you’ll have no compensation.”
Adding: “It’s made me feel insecure about the passport office and the courier system. How many times has that person faked that signature?”
A spokesperson for HM Passport Office said: "Our records show the passport was securely delivered to the applicant’s address.
"As the applicant claimed that she had not receive the document, a decision was taken to cancel it and issue a new passport free of charge."
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