Vocal Voices

Eighteen year old Grandson's first passport application and he was called for an in depth interview. It was early morning in a Somerset town neither of us know. We set off together in my car at eight this morning. We knew there was a very big detour along country lanes because of a closed main road. He set the TomTom before we set off but the address he had for the Passport Interview Office wasn't the same as the one his Mum and me had. He'd lost the very first letter from them with the address on it and the three following letters from them had no address on them! So we'd all three Googled and the two offices were in the same town but on two different trading estates miles apart.

All he had was a contact number for queries but that didn't open till nine o'clock. We set off with his postcode entered on the TomTom because it did have the word Govt: in it and ours didn't. But he didn't put the postcode in. He just put the main road as destination.

I knew it! This is daughter's TomTom and her chosen voice telling us where to go was a bloke with a real sing-song heavy Jamaican accent! Couldn't understand a word he said. Even worse He told us to go on a route I would never, ever have used but Grandson tells me we have to do what He says. I know even with the detour this trip should only take 45 minutes. Grandson tells me the estimated journey time according to The Voice is 1 hour 25 minutes.

So considering we don't know if we have the right Passport Interview Office, if he misses this interview appointment he would allegedly have to begin his passport application all over again, things are getting fraught in my car. He's known about this interview for six weeks. He's left confirming addresses and where we are supposed to be going until the morning he is due. I was so Fricking Angry with him I wanted to hurt him I wanted to hit him I did swear

At nine o'clock we arrived in this built up, one way systems, signposts everywhere town. We stopped in a side road and he phoned the contact number. It was a call centre in Scotland! He wanted to know where to go! Scotland gave him another number to ring! No thanks.

Motored on and within ten seconds there was the trading estate with The Passport Interview Office and just in time for his appointment. We collapsed with relief. The interview was gruelling for him. Half an hour of intense interrogation even asking him about how his Dad died and the layout of his house.

So we celebrated by laughing, going shopping together for his holiday gear, having a Subway lunch and when we walk along the street he crooks his arm for me to hold and tells me he loves me and can we go shopping together again-soon?

He put the TomTom on again for the journey home but we ignored The Jamaican's directions and went our own way and laughed because He kept telling us we were going the wrong way and Must Turn Round As Soon As Possible. So funny

So a day that began with disaster turned out to be wonderful.

Passport interviews ..... good grief !

Where did you have to go, Fugi, Taunton ??

Phew! I can imagine the temperature in the car
Bb had to go for one of those interviews too, they are quite a grilling aren't they

what a day youve all had
you wont forget it will you
hope the said passport arrives safe and sound
still you will know were to go a second time
arnt they nosey devils tho wanting all those details
you deserve a very large drink tonight

Oh Fugi, what larks! So glad a bad day turned into a good one and one you will remember it with a chuckle

TheOstrich wrote:Passport interviews ..... good grief !

Where did you have to go, Fugi, Taunton ??

It was his first passport application and he forgot to include his birth certificate. Then they contacted him to say they needed his Mum's birth certificate too. By this time he may have been flagged as suspicious so they called him in for an interview. His interviewer was very nice but the questions were the same as if he'd been an illegal immigrant! Honestly. As if he had made a marriage of convenience! They wanted his FaceBook ID, his email address, details of his car registration, his parents birth dates, place of birth, how would he describe the town he lives in, where he was brought up. The only question he couldn't answer was the name of the responsible person who signed his passport application. That was because she was a civil servant friend of mine and he's never known her surname. It was a shock for us as well. Eighteen year old straightforward young bloke has to go through all that to get his first passport.

It was Yeovil Ostrich but the Beaminster tunnel is still closed since the couple died when it collapsed so the detour has to miss that out and take you round the houses to get onto the Yeovil road. The TomTom went to bits and we actually got sent to Dorchester through lanes and everything until we hit the top road from Dorch to Yeovil and that took us to the wrong side of Yeovil. The drive home was a doddle because I used to know Yeovil really well so that's why we ignored the loathsome TomTom.

Yeovil was a sad place. Dozens and dozens of empty shops. I was shocked. At the moment Bridport and West Bay are booming with the Broadchurch effect so when we got back here mid afternoon the town was buzzing. We drove through The Square in Beaminster and it looked like a ghost town as it is a dead end now. Can't get through to Crewkerne, to Yeovil unless you take the detour.

used to live in Yeovil Fugi,still go back to see family ,and your right it is a dump now,the entire EAST end of the town wants flattening .

would'nt want to move back there,very depressing

I had to have a passport interview three years ago, for my first full British Passport. I had travelled over Europe quite extensively back in the 70s and 80s, but always on one of those Visitors Passports you could get at the Post Office.......Anyhow, the interview was very formal and quite scary in a way - I felt guilt and 'on the back foot' even though I had nothing to feel guilty about. Ludicrous! Why could they not verify me from the 50 years of law-abiding, tax paying, house owning, and the Birth Certificate and Marriage and Divorce Certificates they must have on file

Not a pleasant experience at all. I had my interview in Cheltenham, so at least could go for a lovely lunch and shop afterwards to calm my jangled nerves

Sorry he had to go through that Fugi. Is this the very first passport he's applied for or has he held a children's passport before?

Kaz, words fail me!

I must say, the cost of a passport appalls me. I know that we're paying for the extra technology and security measures involved in producing them but it does seem a lot. I had to renew Joe's last year, just for a school day trip to France, and it cost £49 for the actual renewal but because I wasn't confident on him getting the correct pose in a photo booth I had to take him to Jessops for his passport photo and that cost £10. Obviously that was nothing to do with the passport office but just an example of an excessive cost connected to applying for one. All for a passport which only lasts for 5 years and which may not be used again (the boys are on a 'big' holiday ban as they can't even get off the estate without war breaking out on the backseat).

Oh, and we've set our Sat Nav with an Irish accent. Sean's a lovely man and has such a beautiful voice