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A dad’s holiday plans could be in jeopardy because he says his two-year-old son’s passport has been stolen.
Nathan Nethercot, 33, who lives in York with his wife and son Stephen Nethercot, said he was contacted by HMRC Childcare Services to send across his son’s passport and birth certificate to claim for tax-free childcare.
He sent Stephen’s passport and birth certificate off on March 7 and he said HMRC Childcare Services verified this on March 13.
But when Nathan received the envelope back on March 15, it only contained his son’s birth certificate, not his passport.
The dad says he was told by HMRC Childcare Services that both would be returned in the same envelope rather than separately.
Nathan believes that the passport has been stolen because photos show how the envelope appears to have been opened by a knife or letter opener.
It was reported to South Yorkshire Police by Nathan on March 18.
Once he realised that the passport was missing, he contacted HM Passport Services to cancel it.
The situation has left the dad who has recently moved from Sheffield searching for answers and an apology from those responsible.
He told Metro: ‘This has left me feeling stressed and annoyed because I don’t know where my son’s passport is.
‘It hasn’t helped because I feel like I’ve been going around in circles.
‘If somebody has stolen my son’s passport, it is worrying to know what they might end up doing with it.’
Nathan is meant to be going on holiday in June to the Dominican Republic, where his son is originally from – a trip that is expected to cost £4,000.
In the UK, around 400,000 British passports are reported lost or stolen each year, according to government figures.
This means that more than 83,000 applications for emergency travel documents to replace lost or stolen UK passports were made between 2019 and 2023.
A lot of the time, passports are stolen from people while they are abroad, so the Foreign Office has teamed up with crime experts to advise people about how to avoid becoming a victim to passport theft.
Nathan continued: ‘I’ve spent at least 10 hours on the phone with various different organisations trying to get this resolved.
‘Some of the people I’ve talked to as well have been rude to me which makes the situation even more frustrating.
‘It’s taken up so much of my time now and it would be nice to get an apology or money back for this happening.’
A Royal Mail spokesperson told Metro that items go through a whole network and process, through machines, automatic sorters, and eventually are manually handled.
They added there may be some few occasions where an item might be damaged like when a letter might get clipped and ripped by a letter sorting machine.
But what should usually happen is the item will be put into a ‘damage bag’ and then delivered.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘We are sorry to hear of the customer’s experience. This issue has been escalated and we will be carrying out searches at the relevant delivery offices and mail centres.’
A HMRC spokesperson told Metro: ‘We’re sorry to learn about this issue Mr Nethercot has faced.
‘We’ve advised him to contact the postal service and offered to reimburse him for the cost of the passport.’
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police added to Metro: ‘On Friday (21 March), we received a report of a theft in Sheffield.
‘It is reported that between 8am and 5pm on 18 March, a child’s passport was stolen from High Street, Sheffield.
‘Officers have spoken to the child’s parent and enquiries are ongoing.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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