Evening Press readers have flooded the paper with fresh tales of chaos at the Liverpool passport agency after we highlighted huge delays putting people in fear for their holidays.

A new law requires children not already listed on their parents' passports to apply for their own and a new computer system is also causing chaos in the Liverpool passport office which serves North Yorkshire.

One reader claimed passport officials in Liverpool were handing out passports to people without the necessary identification because of so many applications being "lost in the post".

Nicola Balding, of Huntington Road, York, was told by an official that her daughter Chloe's application had not turned up and because the original birth certificate had disappeared they would process a fresh application without it.

"They said they were honouring the fact we'd already sent them and didn't need to see them again," she said.

"I asked them how they were making sure everyone was legitimate if they weren't checking their documents.

"She said they'd just give them a short-term passport if they thought anyone was dodgy."

A spokeswoman for the passport agency today said: "I'm sure this lady would have needed some sort of identification.

"Of course they are not giving out passports without it - you need ID to show who you are.

"In extreme cases if all her details had been lost an exception might be made in that situation because we want to be helpful to the traveller but I'm sure she would have been asked for some identification."

Being "lost in the post" was the excuse many York holidaymakers received from staff in Liverpool.

Paul Firth, 28, of Woodland Way, Huntington, missed out on a one-week holiday in Amsterdam with five friends because of the mix-up.

He was told two separate applications had not been received and eventually got his passport through from Belfast two days after his friends had left for their holiday.Paul lost the £120 he had paid out on a plane ticket.

"Every time you phone them up it is just an answering machine and you really were in a no-win situation with them," he said. Nicola Balding's £500 holiday to Malaga with her partner, Lee Dearing and 20-month-old daughter, Chloe, ended up costing her £600 after the extra cost of two trips to Liverpool and £10 extra for getting Chloe's passport over the counter.

Jane Dobbs, of Rawcliffe, received applications for her husband, son and daughter at different times from Newport, Belfast and Glasgow offices.

Tracy Shilleto, of Dringhouses, waited with bated breath for her children's passports and eventually received them - after her mother, who was travelling ten days later than they were.

The agency's spokeswoman said 300 extra staff had been drafted in to help deal with the backlog and the 125,000 applications received last week had all been processed on time.

The passport agency is asking anyone who is travelling within two weeks, and has worries, to write to the Liverpool office marking the outside of the envelope with Urgent Travel and the travel date. Inside, the letter should begin with the name, date of birth and postcode of the applicant and this will allow staff to pull it out and treat it as a priority.

If no passport has arrived within four days of travel - that is the time to go to the passport office in person.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.