CONFUSION IN MURCIA PASSPORT QUEUES

Many irate Murcians are being forced to spend the first few days of their holidays standing in long queues as Passport offices in the city are completely overwhelmed by the numbers who have left it too late to renew their travel documents.

There are no pre-booked appointments available now until the 7th October, so those who have not booked a slot are having to queue from 5am in the morning, trying to get one of the 60 allocated places for those who turn up on the day.

By 6am, many are already too late, so the queues have been forming earlier and earlier, some camping out on the pavement overnight as their holiday departure date looms ever nearer and others taking pot luck, arriving by 5am to make sure they're in the line, some arriving at 7am in the full belief that there's plenty of time before the offices open at 8.30am, only to find the full days' allocation of tickets has already gone.

As might be expected, tempers have become a little frayed, some people standing there for hours without any idea that only a certain number of tickets are being issued, only to find that the allocation was exhausted long before they even arrived, but nobody had bothered to tell them.

Besieged office staff can only process 8 applications an hour, no more, and with all of Spain on holiday, there simply aren’t the personnel available to draft in more resources and deal with the volumes of applications.


So if you hold a Spanish Passport, and you are planning a journey, check that passport expiry date. Even the British passport processing system is currently taking takes 4 weeks so allow plenty of time and don’t be disappointed.