HOURS before she was set to fly off on holiday with her three children and husband, Anne Dannerolle from Hull should have been winding down.
Instead, she was forced to embark on a 220-mile round trip to Durham to collect a passport that should have been with her a week earlier.
Mrs Dannerolle is one of the people caught up in delays hitting the Passport Office.
She said: "It was really stressful. We were panicking that we weren't going to be able to go away as a family."
The Dannerolles were eventually able to catch their 7am flight to France on May 22, but not before paying out £55.50 in fees to expedite their ten-year-old son's passport, plus £13 for a next-day courier service that was never needed, as it failed to materialise on time.
Her case is being used by the Labour Party to highlight the extent of delays in processing passport applications.
The opposition forced a vote calling for people like Mrs Dannerolle, who were left out of pocket because of the delays, to be reimbursed.
But Labour's motion was defeated by 47 votes (282 against 235), despite Home Secretary Theresa May announcing last week that passport applications would be fast-tracked free of charge.
"It's wrong. If they are doubling their money, they should have the funds to double their staff to deal with applications," Mrs Dannerolle said.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs: "After weeks of delays, Anne Dannerolle, from Hull, paid for the upgrade to next-day delivery.
"Her passport still did not come and she had to drive a 200-mile round trip just hours before her flight.
"The Passport Office has made money out of those families. Too early to get the Home Secretary's fast-track offer, but too late to wait any longer before they travel, they have been forced to pay out."
Hull North MP Diana Johnson expressed regret at the way Lib Dem and Tory members voted down the motion.
She said: "Although we finally had an apology from the Home Secretary for this 'made-in-Whitehall' farce, caused after 600 staff were cut from processing passport applications, the Government seems to be refusing to give back money customers have paid for a service that many have not been getting – and even after some have had the kind of inconvenience that my constituent, Anne Dannerolle, has gone through."
Mrs May said: "I would like to say to anybody who is unable to travel because of a delay in processing their passport application that I am sorry and the Government is sorry for the inconvenience they have suffered and we are doing all we can to put things right."
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