SUMMER HELLIDAY
Brits face holiday chaos as passport ‘shambles’ could see millions of summer getaways CANCELLED
MILLIONS of Brits face cancelled summer holidays because of huge delays in processing passports, ministers warned.
Five million people delayed renewing their passports during the pandemic, causing unprecedented demand when Covid restrictions lifted.
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And a ten-week target to process applications has repeatedly been missed, MPs said.
Post-Brexit EU rules mean Brit passports must have at least three months remaining.
MPs also accused the Passport Office of overseeing an "absolute shambles" and said the situation was foreseeable.
They said constituents were cancelling holidays, missing funerals and rearranging trips because of the delays, The Times reported.
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Immigration minister Kevin Foster urged people planning to travel to get applications in as soon as possible.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also blasted airlines frequent flight cancellations and urged them to get "reliability back into the system again" before the peak summer season.
Airlines and airports have blamed Covid-related staff absence and recruitment struggles.
Stuart McDonald, the SNP’s home affairs spokesman, said: “All our constituents are having to cancel holidays, miss funerals, rearrange visits, with even a new ten-week target routinely being failed.
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"What will be done to avoid this predictable mess getting worse?
"And can we be assured that the ten-week target will not be lengthened further as we approach the summer?”
Foster said: “We dealt with a million passport applications last month alone.
"To put that into context, we usually deal with seven million in a whole year."
It comes after a family missed their £3,000 holiday to Portugal due to a passport mistake.
Mum Nina Gurd was unable to board her flight with her husband John and three sons Jack, Harry and Charlie after being told her passport was not valid because it expired next month.
Earlier this month, mum Ana Tiganescu was forced to leave her son at a Ryanair check-in after a confusing passport rule ruined their holiday.
Last year, a 67-year-old retiree lost her £2,600 dream holiday because of the new passport rules.
And passenger Abi Campbell was stopped from boarding her flight back to Glasgow from Tenerife after thinking her passport was valid.
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Despite EU rules allowing Brits to have just three months on their passport to enter the country, some airlines are requiring Brits to have six months, causing further confusion.
Earlier this month we told how Brits were cancelling trips due to the delays and mistakes when renewing passports.
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