NO2ID

[No direct URL for this story, but go to http://www.osnpages.co.uk/ and search for "passport" to get the PDF]

Passport office set for Warwick

Leamington Observer, 3rd May 2007

A Passport office will open in Warwick by the end of the year as part of a massive shake-up in the service in a bid to improve security.

The Warwick office - one of some 60 new offices throughout the country - will handle first-time adult passport applicants, who will be interviewed prior to the issuing of a passport.

The move is aimed at improving the security of the application process and help counter identity fraud.

The office, which will be based on the first floor of Westgate House in Market Street, is expected to deal with around 6,200 applications a year. The office is likely to have two interview positions and be open three days per week, including Saturdays.

Although the office will initially only deal with first time adult applications, it could later take on other roles, such as the renewal of applications.

The nearest main passport office is currently in Peterborough, a 150 mile round journey for people needing a new passport, or a renewal, in a hurry.

...

Notable for a new spin: suggesting it will make "renewal in a hurry" easier, whereas in fact renewal in a hurry is going to be made impossible.

... or it could be lazy journalism - the local hack writing it may just have assumed that this "new passport office" is just like the existing kind, only closer.

Either way, if we have anyone in the Leamington/Warwick area, it's worth a letter to the paper. Anyone out there want to have a stab at it?