12-year passport is invented to clear applications log-jam

TRAVELLERS are being allowed to use out of date passports in a bid to clear a logjam in passport offices.

Documents at the end of their 10-year validity are being brought back into service and extended for up to two years.

The move is just one emergency measure taken to speed up the processing of passport applications and ensure that travellers do not miss holidays.

Only the most straightforward cases are being dealt with by extensions and only when the passport holder is still recognisable in the photograph.

Around 30,000 exceptional extensions have been issued so far. They are normally only granted on five-year passports issued to children under 16 which can be stamped and used for a further five years.

The Home Office said immigration authorities overseas had been made aware of what was happening to avoid any problems.

The difficulties at the Passport Agency have been caused by a record number of passport applications, exacerbated by new rules requiring all children to have their own travel documents and the introduction of new computer equipment at the Liverpool office. Three hundred extra staff have been recruited to help and in some cases overnight motorcycle couriers are being used to ensure people have their passports in time to travel.

The Passport Agency has promised compensation to anyone forced to cancel travel plans because of delays, but so far all applications appear to have been processed in time.

There are signs that the crisis is abating after a peak caused by half- term at the end of last month with the average length of time taken to process non-urgent applications down from 50 to 40 days.

Holidaymakers are being advised that applications are being dealt with in order of date of travel. They are being urged not to telephone passport offices unless essential.

If applicants have not got their documents within two weeks of their travel date, they should write to the manager of the relevant passport office marking the envelope "urgent" and with their date of travel. If they have still not heard anything within a week of travel they should go to the passport office "without delay". Passports can still be processed within a day for an extra charge.