Passport chaos costs family Majorca holiday

Palma.—A Swansea MP has called for action to tackle a massive backlog in processing passports before “dream holidays become living nightmares”.
Geraint Davies, Labour and Co-operative MP for Swansea West, has spoken out to demand urgent action after learning that Swansea people were among those to find themselves stopped from going on holiday due to chaos at passport offices.
The Passport Agency announced this week that it was dealing with about 465,000 renewals and first-time passport requests, and 150,000 passports were being sent out each week.
The workload is causing long delays that has provoked a political row, with Labour leader Ed Miliband saying: “There are greater responsibilities for the Passport Agency since 2010 and fewer resources.”
Now  Davies has waded into the debate saying: “Many Swansea constituents have contacted me having been affected by the delays in the passport service.
“One Swansea family missed their holiday to Majorca after the Passport Office held on to the mother’s passport after she was sent new passports for her children. Despite paying for a courier from Liverpool to receive her passport before the flight the family couldn’t travel and lost their holiday with no compensation.
“Other MPs across Britain have been inundated with requests for help from constituents affected by the backlog in the issuing of passports.