MARTIN Lewis has warned Brits who are renewing their passports that they could be paying more due to an easy mistake.
New figures show nearly 4.5million British passports will expire by July 18, when schools break up for summer.
And as thousands of Brits attempt a holiday abroad after travel restrictions were lifted, the huge volume of renewals has resulted in huge delays.
Martin Lewis has previously warned Brits to be careful when renewing their documents, due to a number of websites on Google that offer to do it for you – for a price.
He said on last week's This Morning: "What happens is on search engines, at the top, you will see something and it will say 'ad'.
"So what these companies do, is they charge you for processing something you can do for free."
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"These firms charge you – you get no benefit, no fast track, there's no benefit in it but they do it for you rather than you doing it yourself. And they charge you."
It isn't the only way Brits are paying more for their passports without needing to, as some could lose nearly £10.
Anyone trying to apply via a paper document rather than an online document could pay an extra £9.50 – and it isn't any easier or quicker.
MoneySavingExpert's Peter Lekarski warned: "It costs £75.50 to get a new first-time or replacement adult passport online, including if you need to change the details on it. For child passports, it's £49."
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"In comparison, applying by post using a paper form costs £85 for an adult passport and £58.50 for a child – £9.50 more in both cases."
The long passport delays have forced Brits to cancel their holidays after many have waited longer than the recommended 10 weeks.
A family was forced to cancel their £1,800 holiday to the Canary Islands after they were stuck without one of their passports due to huge delays.
Other families have taken to Twitter to complain – one person wrote: "My daughter has missed her holiday despite the application going in on January 31. Also out of pocket."
Another put: "I still haven't had mine back after over 10 weeks! Due to fly in three weeks."
A third tweeted: "Applied with plenty of time – stated 5 weeks at time of application. Had 10 weeks to travel. Looks like £4k holiday will be wasted."
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Brits have even been banned from boarding flights due to confusing rules regarding passports.
Previously, Brits just needed to have a passport that was in date to be able to travel to countries across Europe, but new rules are now in place.
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