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Summer Holiday Passport Advice


-G-

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It's that time of year when people get ready for 2 weeks abroad or a weekend City getaway - I just wanted to share a nugget of advice relevant to anyone jetting off this year.

 

A few years ago, I came home from a short break in Corfu & found that I'd misplaced my passport between the airport & my house - I was due Offshore the day after I arrived, so got home and immediately started to pack my rig-bag.

 

Finding I'd lost my passport between the airport & home, I jumped in the car and drove round (I live literally 5 minutes from Aberdeen Airport) - I approached the Taxi Desk Attendant who recognized me from the passport (mine) he'd just found & was delighted when he told me he'd passed it to the Police Office adjacent to the Main Terminal.

 

That was where my delight ended.

 

The police officer who had just received my passport informed me that because my passport didn't technically belong to me & it had been out of my custody, it was to be sent to the Passport office where it would be destroyed. No amount of pleading or politeness made any difference. Destroyed. End of.

 

I therefore urge any of you who find a passport, be it at an airport or on the seat of a taxi - DO NOT hand it in to the police straight away. Go the extra mile & try to find the owner via social media or non-police airport security. It could make all the difference to whether you ruin someones holiday or not.

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Holy crap, I never knew. I wonder if there is some law saying that found passports much be returned to the passport office or police station, so therefore doing the right thing, i.e. - trying to find the owner, is illegal.

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wow... that seems rather dickish! seems more of a punishment for losing it than any security issue. i mean, its clearly got all your personal information on it, and a page for next of kin details, so it wouldn't even be very hard to locate the 'owner'.

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He'd probably already had it logged into the system when it was called in. If it's in the system he can't let it go as it would be him who had now lost it.

 

Rules are rules, I'm glad our police force follow them, particularly in an airport. Really sucky situation for you though.

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