THE UK Passport Office has insisted there would be no backlog in applications if everyone could just have the same name.
Some people have been waiting months for a new passport, but officials say they have only themselves to blame.
A government spokesman said: “The trend for individual names – rather than just a number which is what all governments really want you to have – makes passport manufacture unnecessarily labour-intensive.
“Also we have to draw a vast number of birds and landmarks on each passport. It is absolutely essential to have the kingfisher, red grouse, merlin, curlew and avocet.
“Just like it’s essential to have a drawing of the Giant’s Causeway and Ben Nevis, even though most people in Britain think they are types of biscuit.”
