A lady from Oxfordshire has been waiting 19 weeks to receive her passport, as HM Passport Office delays continue.

Angela Benjafield, from Banbury, applied for a new passport in February this year.

After her old passport got lost in transit, the application was withdrawn and she had to re-apply, paying another £75.

Ms Benjafield said: “From the start to now still pending, it’s been 19 weeks. It’s so frustrating you can’t speak to anyone at the passport office.

“When they say someone will call you, they don’t.”

A HM Passport Office spokesperson said: “We have found that Angela currently has two live applications, meaning one of them is a duplicate.

“We will refund that one and then contact her directly with an update.”

The HM Passport Office claims that staff are working tirelessly to deal with record demand, processing approximately 250,000 passport applications each week.

It says that the vast majority of applications continue to be completed well within the ten-week guidance.

Read more: Summer festival will return after two years of restrictions

They further state that in May, over 91% of applications from the UK were completed within 6 weeks.

The HM Passport Office spokesperson added: “Since April 2021, we’ve clearly stated that people should allow up to ten weeks when applying for their passport to factor in the increased demand.

“Which has seen 5 million people delay their passport application due to the pandemic.

“Face-to-face passport services are only available by appointment.”

 

Read more from this author

This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1

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