Tenerife holiday saved for family by the Glasgow Times

Pamela Cunningham, her husband Ross and their two children were set to miss out on a dream trip to Tenerife on June 7 after an admin blunder left them without passports.

The distraught family contacted us in a desperate attempt to force HM Passport Office into action and we took on their plight in a bid to save the trip they had saved so hard to pay for.

The Cunninghams had applied for the documents well within the 10-week period outlined on the government agency’s website, but Pamela had only received one for six-year-old daughter Sofia-Rose.

But they can pack their cases after a special delivery arrived with the missing passports inside.

The family now have their passports (Image: Supplied)

Pamela said: “I can’t thank the Glasgow Times enough for the help we received. I had been trying for weeks to get this sorted out but I was getting nowhere until the team got involved.

“After you chased the Passport Office on our behalf, I received a phone call from them saying they knew about the issue, the date of our holiday and were working to get things resolved for us.

“We were then contacted again to say that we could expect the documents to be delivered. After all we had gone through, I was sceptical whether they would actually turn up, but thankfully we got a knock on the door at the weekend and it was the passports we had been waiting for.”

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Bosses at the agency admitted that a mistake in the original scanning process resulted in the family’s applications not being linked, meaning they were all dealt with at different times.

We previously told how Pamela, 29, sent all the documents off at the start of March after following the guidance to put all of the applications in one envelope.

She said: "My daughter’s passport arrived fine, but there was no sign of mine or one for my son Ross, four. 

“I contacted their office but was told there was no way to speed things up, despite the fault lying with them and not us. I’m just delighted that I decided to contact the Glasgow Times, because without your intervention I fear we would have lost our £5000.”

Pamela says the thought of telling her children that they might not be able to go on their first holiday abroad was something she was dreading.

Pamela Cunningham with her two children (Image: Mark Gibson)

The South Lanarkshire mum added: “That’s what we were facing, and the kids would have been distraught.

“We’ve had a tough few years and had saved hard for this trip to Tenerife. I’m over the moon that everything has been sorted out and we will now be jetting off.

“We can’t wait to go away and enjoy our holiday, and I can’t explain the relief we feel."

READ MORE: Passport Office 'blunder' could ruin family's £5000 Tenerife trip

A spokesperson for HM Passport Office previously told the Glasgow Times they were working to sort out the documents for the family.

Between January and April 2023, 99.5% of passport applications were processed within the 10-week timeframe.