A MUM was forced to miss out on her Easter holiday to Spain with her family after being caught up in the huge passport delays.

Many families have had to cancel or change their holiday plans after applying for new passports, only to not receive them on time.

Katherine Turner, 47, spent £2,200 on a Jet2 holiday to Fuerteventura with her husband Ken, 51, and 14-year-old daughter Holly.

Despite applying for her daughter's passport renewal on February 5, it failed to arrive in time – meaning they couldn't go on holiday.

She told Sun Online Travel: "We were due to fly on April 2, so applied for a simple renewal on February 5.

"It said five weeks for the application, then halfway through this changed to 10 weeks."

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"We had to decide whether to wait for the passport or move the holiday.

"I even emailed my MP – one day I spent over seven hours on the phone being passed around and cut off."

However, it failed to arrive in time – meaning they had to miss their family holiday.

She said they were "devastated" it didn't come in time calling the system "a joke".

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She added: "It spoiled the build-up to our holiday. "

Katherine said they eventually had to move the holiday from Easter to the August holidays, costing another £450 in fees, as well as extra costs taking the holiday to £3,000.

She said they ended up going to Cornwall over Easter instead – only for the passports to turn up just days later.

Katherine isn't the only person to have been affected by the delays.

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.

And a 10-year-old boy was left "sobbing" after being forced to miss his school holiday with his friends due to delays with passport renewals.

The government has issued urgent travel advice for Brits planning to renew their passports this year.

Director General of HM Passport Office, Abi Tierney, said: “Now that international travel has resumed, we know people will be looking at going away on holiday and yet many people are leaving applying for a passport too late.  

“The summer holidays are fast approaching so if you need a new passport, we urge you to apply now.

“Our dedicated staff are working tirelessly to ensure that passport applications are processed as quickly as possible.” 

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The government recommends allowing up to 10 weeks when applying for your passport.

Brits have even been banned from boarding flights due to confusing rules regarding passports.

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