A mum and her children are jetting off to a "much-needed holiday" after a passport blunder that saw the Passport Office replace her daughter’s picture with that of another child.
Jasmeen Basi, 34, of Shirley, was facing the prospect of not taking her daughter Daya, three, abroad after officials linked the wrong picture to her passport application.
She had contacted the Passport Office to chase the girl's delayed passport application 12 weeks after submitting it - only to be told a picture of a different child had been attached.
The picture was of an older Asian child, between the age of seven and 12.
However, after the Echo exclusively reported the trouble, and just 24 hours before her flight, the mum has picked up a new passport and will be enjoying a well-deserved getaway.
She said: “I have been so tense the whole time. I have had such levels of anxiety, it was such a relief to finally have it.”
Jasmeen Basi, 34, and Daya Birring, three (Image: Jasmeen Basi)READ MORE: Family set to miss holiday as wrong child's picture linked to passport
She had first applied on December 22 - attaching Daya’s picture - after it was taken at the Post Office branch in Shirley.
She had been told the application would be sent and she would receive it back in three weeks.
However, weeks before the holiday, she called to check on the application and was advised to ask for it to be fast-tracked when it gets to two weeks before travel.
She did but it was rejected and later she was told it was because the Passport Office had mistakenly swapped the picture.
After the Echo reported on her story, she was contacted by a senior worker at the Passport Office on Tuesday who explained that her daughter’s picture had gotten lost at a depot in Durham.
After having Daya’s picture taken for the third time and sending it off, they arrived on Wednesday, were processed and a passport was finally printed.
The mum travelled to London with Daya and collected the passport herself the day before the family's departure to Sharm El-Sheikh in Egypt.
She said: “I got to the office (on Friday) morning and initially they didn’t know what I was talking about.
"I showed them the newspaper’s front page and they eventually found my application and gave me the passport.
“When I saw it I was just checking it to see if they had got everything right. At this point I thought we wouldn’t be able to go, I had prepared myself for it.”
She added: “It’s been a whirlwind and I can’t believe it has taken three months to get this sorted.
“I feel like this holiday is so much more needed after all of this.”
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