Holidaymakers and Rangers fans queue at passport office
DOZENS of people queued outside the Glasgow passport office yesterday to see through the “brutal” process ahead of holidays and next week’s Europa League final.
It is believed that the office, which deals with passport requests from residents from all over Scotland, has been experiencing ‘unprecedented levels of demand’.
On the UK Government website, official guidance for applying for a passport says that the office is trying to minimise waiting times.
Many of the people waiting in line however, claim the process has been lengthy and inconvenient.
Jim Murray, 54, who drove from London to attend his appointment, said: “I am trying to get a passport renewal. I applied about five weeks ago and sent a photo in but they said they couldn’t recognise me in the photo, so they sent me out a form, which I have sent back but they never answered. That was two weeks ago.
“I had to drive up from London this morning to come to the door. I have been driving since 6pm last night, I was working down there.
“I first applied 10 years ago for the first time but it was never as bad as this. I have been on the phone for eight hours a day for the last two weeks, every day.
“They keep on transferring me but then they keep putting me back in the queue and they said ‘we can’t take your call right now, we are too busy,’ it’s just the same all the time.
“It takes four hours to get through and they won’t give you a direct number so you keep on phoning customer services and they keep on transferring you and
you keep getting cut off.
“It’s absolutely brutal. I am just hoping I can get this sorted today.”
He is desperate to receive his documents as he is flying to the Europa League final soon.
The truck driver added: “It’s nerve-wracking because I am supposed to be flying on Saturday morning, so I have a day and a half to get this sorted.
“I hope Rangers win and then, we are staying for a week in Malaga with my wife, son, father and a couple of other people.
“It will be a good time if we win.” Others in line are even more pressed for time, like Caralane Glendining, 50, who was crying thinking about missing her holiday.
She said: “I started the renewal process in January and I fly out tomorrow. They finally phoned me back yesterday and told me to pick up my passport today at 12pm.
“Honest to god, I have been in tears.
“I work hard, I worked all the way through the pandemic, minimum wage, never a day off and I have been in tears all week, thinking I won’t be able to go on holiday.
“I actually phoned my local MP yesterday morning, after I spoke to the office in Liverpool and they said there was no chance. Phoned my MP and within an hour, I got a phone call to say I can pick it up.”
A HM Passport Office spokesperson said: “Since April 2021, we have been advising people to allow up to 10 weeks when applying for their British passport as more than five million people delayed applying due to the pandemic. “We urge people who need a new passport to apply for one as soon as possible, with the vast majority of all passports applications are being dealt with well within 10 weeks. “To deal with this demand, we have increased staff numbers by 500 since April 2021. This has helped us to handle more applications than ever before, with more than one million passport applications processed in March 2022.”