A CWMBRAN nurse who worked through the coronavirus pandemic has said delays to renewing her son's passport have left her and her family uncertain whether they will be able to go on a long-awaited holiday.

Sharon and Robert Woodcock booked to go with their son Phillip on a cruise in the US and Canada before the pandemic, but their holiday has been rescheduled several times.

This meant Phillip, who has autism, now needed to renew his passport.

Mr and Mrs Woodcock applied for their son’s passport in April through the Post Office, but now, with less than two weeks to go until they are due to set sail, they are yet to receive it.

“They did warn me at the time that, because my son is disabled, there might be an issue with the photograph,” said Mrs Woodcock.

“I had an email at the end of May saying they had received the application. At the start of June, they said there was a problem with the photograph. We expected this, so sent off a second photograph.

“Then there was an issue about his address. He lives across the road but we pay his bills, and he has his letters delivered here as he throws them all away. We were told by the Post Office that we should explain this in a cover letter.

“We’ve been passed from person to person to another person and another person.

“We’re months on now. It’s really frustrating that it’s been checked off by the Post Office but we’re still having these issues and going over the same things.”

Mrs Woodcock said the Passport Office had also queried about Phillip’s signature, even though he is not required to sign his passport due to his disability.

The Home Office, which is responsible for passport issues, asked for more information about the change of delivery address on July 21, in order for “thorough security checks” to be carried out before issuing the passport.

However, Mrs Woodcock said this was written in “a bizarre way” as if it was only asking for Phillip’s address, and said this was mirrored in phone calls with the Passport Office.

She said this information has now been sent, following a further call with the Passport Office on Tuesday, August 16.

“It was written in a bizarre way as it was written as if it was asking for my son’s address. The man I have spoken to [on Tuesday] explained to me that the way the letter was written was wrong.

“If the people weeks ago had told me this, I would’ve been able to do it weeks ago.”

“We are still in hope that we will have this sorted out on time,” Mrs Woodcock continued.

“It’s frustrating as I work full time and haven’t got the time to keep chasing them.

“We booked this cruise before Covid. It has been the one thing that has kept me going as a nurse working through the pandemic knowing that I would be going on this cruise.

“We’ve waited years for this now and the thought of missing it when we applied in April – it wasn’t one month before we travelled, it’s now four or five months.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “Since January 2022, staff have processed on average 800,000 passport applications each month, with 96.4 per cent of applications being processed within 10 weeks. But we cannot compromise security checks and people should apply with plenty of time prior to travelling.

"We have a number of measures to help people with disabilities successfully apply for a passport. These measures are kept under constant review and we will always look to improve the process where we can.”