Having a British passport is pricey - and such a palaver

The last thing I want is a passport that’s not valid, especially coming up to the summer holidays but mine and my two children’s passports are currently stuck in my broken safe.

- CHARLOTTE CRIPPS

It’s going to cost me £100 plus VAT to prize it open with a locksmith, who thinks the batteries might have gone. By the time I get my hands on them, the cost to renew a UK passport will have risen from £88.50 to £94.50 this week – that’s a 7 per cent increase, and a rise of 25 per cent in two years.

I’ll replace mine using the Passport Office’s premium service (£222) because I don’t want to wait three weeks for a new one. Then, I’ll potentially need to shell out £189 each for my daughters — once I’ve checked over their current passports with a fine-tooth comb to establish, as best as I can, if they’re soon to be out of date.

You see, nothing is certain for UK passport holders these days. Even though the British passport is one of the most expensive in Europe, it no longer guarantees entry into another country. It’s like a VIP pass that’s been deactivated.

There is mass confusion with UK passport holders being turned away from boarding flights or deported on arrival, as they get caught out by changes to EU passport rules after Brexit. This is what happened to my friend Arabella last Saturday.