Travellers urged to check passports

With only six weeks to go until the school holidays and the traditional summer holiday exodus, the Identity and Passport Service is calling on all parents and other summer holidaymakers to check now that their passports are in order.

The IPS said that every year people risk being unable to go on holiday because they arrive at ports and airports with passports which have expired.

Research conducted for IPS found that 17% of people began looking for their passport just one day before their trip, while 15% only began looking a few hours before they were due to go away.

The research also found that 7% of people had had a last minute passport panic because they didn't have or couldn't find their passport, while 3% had left home for a trip abroad without their passport.

Last summer, 106,000 people were forced to pay the extra £48 for the same-day passport renewal service, because they had not left enough time for a standard renewal.

Home Office Minister Joan Ryan said: "The school holiday period is always one of the busiest times of the year for the Identity and Passport Service, with people having to make last minute applications to ensure they can get on the plane for their summer holiday.

"The advice to holidaymakers from IPS is to check now that they have their passports and that they are still valid, to avoid disappointment and to ensure they are not left grounded at the airport."

There are currently around 47 million British passports in circulation, with 80% of the population holding a passport.

The service is now experiencing unprecedented demand, with applications expected to rise to around 7 million this year.

With the exception of the USA, with a rise of 8 million predicted this year, the IPS said that this is more than any other country in the world.

The IPS has also issued reminders to families planning to travel to the USA that, under the US Visa Waiver rules, children must have their own machine-readable passport. Anyone without their own machine-readable passport, including children on a parental passport, will need a visa to travel to the US.

(KMcA/SP)