Half the calls to UK passport hotline run by French firm go unanswered

HALF the calls to the UK passport hotline run by a multi-million pound French firm are not being answered.

Those who get through face an average wait of 13 minutes before they talk to someone.

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Teleperformance has a £22.8million contract.

Rory Boland, of consumer champion Which? Travel, said its standards were unacceptable.

The firm has had a dressing down by the Home Office and is hiring 500 extra call agents.

Home Office minister Kevin Foster said: “Teleperformance are required to improve this performance as soon as possible.”

Before April 2021 the wait time for a passport renewal was three weeks, but that has now risen to ten weeks.

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