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Thousands of British Passports Lost in Post
Nearly 4,000 British passports were lost in the post in 2000, according to official figures revealed on April 7.
The British Passport Agency issued 5.5 million passports through the post last year, of which 3,851 did not reach their destinations.
The British government has become alarmed by the number of the lost passports and discussed the situation with officials from Consignia, the company that runs Royal Mail.
Home Office Minister Barbara Roche said she was concerned about the problem and that her officials had spoken to Consignia about it. "The Passport Agency is seeking to work more closely with the Royal Mail to combat this problem," she said.
A spokesman for Consignia said they were taking the passport losses seriously. "We are working with the Passport Agency to tackle and identify any problems, as we do with all mail, using our own security team," he said. He added that "it's not always within our control, it could be poor addressing."
The issue was raised by Dr. Jenny Tonge, the Liberal Democrat's International Development spokeswoman, who said she was concerned that some lost passports could fall into the hands of criminals.
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