Passport Office workers walk out over jobs, pay, and conditions
The strike is expected to last five weeks
More than 1,000 passport office workers are walking out today in a row over jobs, pay, and conditions, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has said.
The strike is expected to last five weeks and could delay up to one million passport applications.
Daniel Salmon is the Owner of Never a Wasted Journey, a luxury travel company in Chelmsford.
He has some tips for travellers: "So what I personally suggest is check your passports, check the expiry date.
"Obviously different countries around the world now have different requirements that they ask for, so go on to the Foreign Office website, put in the name of the country that you're obviously looking to go to and that will give you all the information."
According to Daniel, because of the expected backlog, it's important to think ahead even if you're going away this summer: "If it looks like your passport is going expire when you're due to travel, get your appointment booked in.
"It's predicted that one million are going to be affected by these passport office strikes, so you want to get in the queue as quickly as possible."
For those in a real rush, Daniel suggested looking into an emergency passport as well as the "fast track option" which costs around £135.
He added: "They've actually also introduced a premium service where you can go online, make your appointment, and get your passport in half an hour - that's around £195."
But overall, Daniel stressed the best way to not be caught out is to look into your passports expiry date and apply for a new one as soon as possible if you need to.
What does the Home Office say?
The Home Office said the Passport Office has already processed more than 2.7 million applications this year, adding over 99.7% of standard applications are being processed within 10 weeks, with the majority of those delivered to customers well under this timescale.
There are currently no plans to change official guidance which states that it takes up to 10 weeks to get a passport.