Arsehat of a father has “lost” my stepdaughters passport the day before we are due to catch a ferry to France for big family reunion – I say lost because he is a control freak of the highest order and quite likely to have hidden it. Google says she can’t travel without passport or national ID card – anyone have any other ideas or experiences?

Mrs lbf is beside herself, the only thing that we can do so her ex doesn’t win his twatty game is for her to stay here and spend the weekend with her daughter instead of coming to France 👿

Not experienced it that way round – but I lost my passport in France and wasn’t allowed on the Zeebrugge – Hull ferry without it. Had to drive to Calais where there are UK Border Police who had the authority to let me on a ferry back the UK without a passport.

I’m afraid to say – I wouldn’t be hopeful.

Never felt so utterly effing helpless, he is even blaming his daughter for losing it & suggesting we must have it – he took her away at Easter and no reason for her or us to have it since.

Can you get to one of the big regional passport offices before you go? Might stand a chance, otherwise probably no chance.

Thanks TG – from want we can see you have to make an appointment for those and we are leaving at 6pm this evening + pretty sure he has all documents needed to get passport anyway 🙁

Obviously I don’t know the chap, but he sound like an utter c . . . Jeremy Hunt.

Birth certificate? Any form of photo ID?

Can you get her to join you later taking a flight to somewhere nearby?

Then book appointment for emergency passport thing?

The UK does not have official ID cards, so no you cannot travel to France as a British Citizen without a passport. Sorry.

As oldnpastit says, your only chance is to arrange an emergency appointment at a passport office for today/tomorrow, ensure you have all the documentation they need and be willing to rearrange your travel.

As bigbeard implied there are ways to reenter the UK as a British Citizen without a passport, but that doesn’t apply here and it is still best to speak with the Embassy and get official emergency documentation.

Basically read this
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/614120/Guidance_Booklet_March_2017__ILB_44_03.17_.pdf
https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently
See if you have everything you need there and make the appointment or go and help the other bloke look for it

If you can get an emergency appointment at your local passport office you may well salvage the day. I’ve been to Glasgow passport office twice now for emergency passports with the expectancy to be sitting about all day but both times I’ve been sorted in a couple of hours.
Good luck.

My dad was in a hospital in France dying and my passport had run out having suffered a massive beau haemmorage. Nothing I could do to get there until it was too late.

Even under those circumstances it was a case of no passport, no travel.

Gonna be phoning the passport office this morning but not even sure we have the right documents available and as usual we both have a full day of work planned, at present our best option seems to be threats of violence 😥 which is the absolute pits, thanks for your input

Well going out I doubt they’re looking for people smuggling in that direction, coming back might be more difficult though… :p sorry not helpful, hopefully you manage to get an emergency passport sorted today.

I reckon he might find it if the police turn up and arrest him for theft.

Kicking ourselves we didn’t see this coming, Mrs on phone to passport office now but further research looks like fasttrack not possible as it will be daughters first adult passport and not a renewal 😥

Coming back no problem at all. I’ve been away with groups a fair bit where a passport gets lost and in practice “seeming a bit British” seems to be enough to get you back. However there’s a formal process that simply involves walking into any French Police Station and filling in a form. Foreign Office will be able to provide details if you call them.

Going out without a passport I have no experience of however as of a few years ago it seemed to me that passport checks were cursory at best on the Tunnel. Often just counting the passports and if I was on a motorcycle just waving me through to save the bother of me taking gloves off. It feels to me a bit like if you borrowed a passport and handed over 4-5 passports (or whatever) they might just count them and wave you through. If it was me and I was travelling by tunnel I’d deffo try that.

So in short, coming back no problem. Going out: Even if officially you have no chance, if you turn up with an extra kid and the right number of passports maybe you’ve got a chance. If they clock it you won’t be the first family to turn up with the wrong/missing passports.

as of a few years ago it seemed to me that passport checks were cursory at best on the Tunnel

Not any more.

We have to open the back door of our van so they can see in then they call each name out and check. I reckon you’d get away with using the passport of someone who looked mildly similar but I’m not sure I’d risk it.

Not any more.

We have to open the back door of our van so they can see in then they call each name out and check. I reckon you’d get away with using the passport of someone who looked mildly similar but I’m not sure I’d risk it.

Thanks for correcting me, both. I’m pretty sure I’m right about coming back – I checked that with the FO fairly recently. (Mind ewe, that’s no the OP’s problem.)

Educator is right. It doesn’t seem like a police issue but controlling or coercive behaviour is treated quite seriously by them as a domestic incident. To some extent worse that an occasional bad temper that results in things getting thrown at each other. Probably best not to go in shouting that they must prosecute for theft.

Obviously he may just have lost it, although if he also doesnt cooperate in finding the documentation for a replacement you’d have everything you need.

There is no way in the current security climate you are getting on public international travel without one though. I’d be amazed if the tunnel are still so relaxed as suggested and if it came to light that you were knowingly travelling with the wrong docs (can you not think of anyone that might phone them to warn them?) then you could find yourselves in a cell whilst they try to unpick the mess.

Hmm maybe worth a go – trouble is her dad would likely report us before we got to the port, I was worried about her being turned back but seeing as Mrs lbf is planning on staying here and we are travelling 2 in a car and 8 in a minibus might be worth the risk, could always borrow my ex’s daughters passport too… if we don’t make it car can always turn back

That’s a real shitter.
Only thing I can add is no “real dad” would deny his daughter a holiday/fun time no matter how much of a control freak. ****!

Was going to suggest just chancing it as I don’t think I’ve ever had a passport checked going through Dover on buses. But last time I did that was years ago, and reading this sounds like things are a bit different these days.

If you really believe the father is at it. Polis sounds like your only last resort. Doubtful if that’s be successful either though .

Telling her dad that we had “found” her passport would be effing priceless too 😈

Hmm maybe worth a go – trouble is her dad would likely report us before we got to the port, I was worried about her being turned back but seeing as Mrs lbf is planning on staying here and we are travelling 2 in a car and 8 in a minibus might be worth the risk, could always borrow my ex’s daughters passport too… if we don’t make it car can always turn back

If this was 2011 and I was travelling by Tunnel I wouldn’t think twice at going through in a mini-bus with 8 people and a fistful of passports one of which was actually a step sister’s.

However this:

her dad would likely report us before we got to the port

Is making that seem a risk too far.

However this:

her dad would likely report us before we got to the port
Is making that seem a risk too far.[/quote]

A bit bloody concerning too.

What has your daughter got to say about it? Does she remember carrying the passport herself last time she travelled or/and where is it normally kept?

I’ve got away with it years ago, but I should imagine they’ve tightened things up by now. If it wasn’t for her dad reporting her to the port, I’d suggest having a go with a borrowed passport or even hiding her in a big sports bag……….

Just tell her dad that you’ve got an appointment at the passport office to get her an emergency one and see what he says.

Travelled with her dad and step mum at Easter, they would have gone as family with fist full of passports ie adults in charge of them – assuming he is lying it’s not the worst he has done and to see the effect it is having on Mrs lbf as it dredges up bad memories is heart breaking, she was one step away from full on rocking back and forth bashing her head last night and there is jack shit I can do about it, breaking my heart just typing this knowing what that areshole has put her through in the past and still it goes on

We travelled through the tunnel last week, three of us in the camper. It was the first time ever we have had the passports checked travelling out. Always had them checked on the way back in.

Was going to suggest just chancing it as I don’t think I’ve ever had a passport checked going through Dover on buses. But last time I did that was years ago, and reading this sounds like things are a bit different these days.

Security is tighter now: coach passengers have to get off and show their passports individually. If you’re driving then they will check that there is a passport for each passenger. Now, my kids look nothing like their passport photos (because they were done when they were babies) so I suppose it would be possible to use someone else’s, but you’ll be in a whole world of trouble if you get caught. I wouldn’t risk it.

You’re also supposed to pre-notify your travel if you’re going through the tunnel.

So it seems it’s really not a good idea to attempt to travel without a passport. And getting an emergency appointment seems unfeasible.

Is there any way you and your SD can go to her other home and search for it? Or at least get her to search for it there? You’re going to have to figure out a way to have a proper look for it. She wouldn’t (I assume) have got back in to the UK from the last holiday without her pp so it must be in her house somewhere you’d think.

Is he that controlling that he’d hide it?

Obviously, calling the bizzies is going to be a bit nuclear and possibly have other fallout but is that your only option at his stage?

You’re also supposed to pre-notify your travel if you’re going through the tunnel.

Indeed, API, advanced passenger information which includes passport info must be uploaded at least 24hrs before travel. I go through the tunnel a lot and they check the faces against the passports quite carefully.

Sounds absolutely sickening, I feel for you. Is there no way you can go round to his house to ‘help him look for it’ ? And basically stand on the doorstep knocking until he lets you in or finds the passport?

What age is your step daughter?

This going to soundlike a bastardly thing to say but there is a kind of logic behind it….

Assuming your step daughter is a teenager (obviously this strategy would be inappropriate for a little kiddie) i’d sit her down and explain that you’ve tried every avenue to sort out her passport but have hit a brick wall.
Tell her the only way that she’ll get to go is if SHE finds it.

Make it her problem and not yours. Wash your hands of it.

I’m guessing her Dad will never, ever cave to reason / pleas /threats / demands from either you or your missus.

He might, however, relent when faced with his tearful teenage daughter whose step dad is being a bit of a prick about it and putting the onus back on her.

It gives him the opportunity to be the good guy without losing face when he helps her “find” it, without realising that you’ve actually manipulated him into it.

Out-bastard the bastard.

its at times like this that you want to go round to his house mob handed, nail him to the floor boards and threaten to drip acid in his face until he recalls where he left it! 👿

nEVER

Assuming the worst then he will have hidden it, Mrs lbf and daughter are going to stay here and have a mini 4 day adventure instead as too much risk otherwise, been massively cheered up by photo posted by family member who has had it tough recently

– Edit because of too much information

Over & out back to normal login, thanks for listening STW

Telling her dad that we had “found” her passport would be effing priceless too

Do that anyway 🙂 Does he need to know that she’s not coming with you? 🙂

Without a passport, I’d be very, very careful. If she is a minor, you’ll be in seriously deep shit if you even attempt to take her abroad and you’ll be playing straight into the hands of the control freak **** dad.