Urgent passport applications are likely to remain under huge strain during the five-week strike by Passport Office employees as appointments have run out within minutes of going online for the second day in a row
A backlog of applications is already mounting due to rising demand before Easter, while a summer rush is also anticipated, so passport workers not on strike will be “reluctant to offer [urgent] appointments”, the source added.
The union source suggested that members of the public could find it “very difficult to access” urgent passport appointments during the strike as the Passport Office’s limited resources would be poured into clearing standard passport applications. “I think after the strike, [the Passport Office] will start offering urgent appointments in regular numbers again, so in five weeks time, the service should be back to normal,” the union source said.But urgent appointments ran out intermittently for the second day running on Tuesday, with the same-day Online Premium service showing available slots for just 23 minutes.
Data scientist Michael Hodge – who set up a bot and associated Twitter account to help people to track down urgent passport appointments – said: “Demand is sky-rocketing as people begin to panic, and news of the strike and its potential effect spreads to those who are planning to go away this summer.”, continues to gain followers but the number of appointments is low, suggesting “demand is getting bigger than supply by the day”, he said.
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