Lost passports: At least 2 per day being lost in post.

We hear a lot from government about the need for ID cards, increased security and how its all good for us and done for our benefit. Yet the government and the clowns who pass themselves off as Labour ministers are inept when it comes to security.

Quite what is the point of having all singing, all dancing security features on passports when the department responsible for issuing them is losing them at the rate of at least 2 per day.

Frustrated travellers have received more than £350,000 in compensation for blunders by UK passport offices over the past three years, it was revealed today.

Pay-outs for those who suffer miseries such as missing dream holidays due to errors have risen by 63% during the same period, according to official figures.

The cost of mistakes at the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), which is responsible for implementing the Government's flagship ID Card scheme was disclosed to the Press Association under the Freedom of Information Act.

The figures will heighten concerns about the system following an admission last month that at least two passports were being lost in the post every day, despite applicants being charged extra for "secure delivery".

The IPS paid out a total of £128,682 to 3,392 successful claimants in the 2005-6 financial year, compared to £78,703 to 2,290 two years earlier.

Compensation levels were even higher in 2004-5, with 3,272 claimants sharing £144,895.

Examples of claims disclosed by the Belfast office recently include a customer who received £2,793 last December after being forced to travel to Jordan when staff "mis-posted" their supporting documents.

A woman received £1,145 last March for going to Nigeria with her husband to replace a marriage certificate which had been "lost on dispatch" from the office.

A spokesman for the IPS, which took over from the UK Passport Service last year said the main cause of payouts had been the loss of photos or documents.

However, he insisted successful claims had only accounted for 0.05% of applications processed in 2005-6.

The cost of obtaining a 10-year adult passport rose by 29% from £51 to £66 in October, partly because of new "biometric" security features.

Copyright Press Association 2007
Tags IPS
Cool Britannia
New Labour
lost data

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