2023-06-11 06:18:31
Lisa, from Stourbridge, West Midlands, was too ill to leave last year so she had planned to leave on Tuesday June 6. However, before booking, she realized that her passport had expired. So she filled out the application forms and sent them, along with her old passport and marriage certificate, through her local post office on Wednesday, March 1.
Stage four breast cancer
Lisa was diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer in September 2021. The disease has spread to other parts of her body including her bones, spine and liver. She and her friend Mandy Patterson-Davis, 57, had planned to scatter the ashes of Lisa’s mother, Brenda Noble, who died aged 69 in 2019, in Nessebar. Brenda had visited the Bulgarian town every year for three decades until her death.
problem with passport
Unfortunately, Lisa received a passport with an incorrect last name, which prevented her from going on a trip. After spending several months trying to resolve the issue with the Passport Office, she was unable to get a new document in time.
Lisa was thrilled to see the new document arrive at her home on March 21. However, upon opening it, she discovered that her last name – Cutler – had been changed to Guyler on the new passport. Lisa claims post office workers checked the information four times and that her last name was correct on the forms.
Lisa contacted the Passport Office and was asked to reapply. However, she refused to pay once more. After informing the Office of her diagnosis, she was asked to return the passport, which she did on March 23.
Lisa waited three weeks, as instructed, and then sent three emails. Her husband, Jonathan Cutler, 48, also called twice, but no passport arrived. Lisa was then told the issue would be resolved in a call on May 19, but the passport had still not arrived days later.
Lisa’s passport was finally delivered by courier on June 4, following journalists inquired at the Home Office. However, it was too late for Lisa to prepare for the trip. She explains: “I am devastated. I had been waiting for so long to accomplish this for my mother. With my condition, I cannot prepare to leave in such a short time, and we had no idea when or if the passport would arrive. »
Lisa now hopes to be healthy enough to leave following her next round of chemotherapy, which might be on July 4. However, it would cost around £500 more to arrange the trip at that time.
Her husband, Jonathan, a businessman, says: “It’s a shame – and there’s no accountability. They completely messed it up. By the time he arrived, we didn’t have time to prepare everything to leave. We weren’t ready to travel with Lisa’s condition, or even arrange for neighbors to care for our cats. She needs a lot more time for things like packing now. »
The Passport Office and the Ministry of the Interior
The Passport Office is an agency of the Ministry of the Interior. The Interior Ministry declined to comment on the case. It is important to remember the importance of careful checking when issuing important documents such as passports, as mistakes can have devastating consequences for those involved.
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