slightly torn passp...
 

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slightly torn passport - options?

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my lads mate has got a slight tear where the pages of his passport meet.  he flies in a day or so (or not if he cant sort this).

i believe one of his other mates was turned away at the airport for this a while back so he doesnt want to take the risk.  anyone know of a sneaky fix that can be done pretty quickly to get him over the line?

thanks

reece.PNG

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 3:06 pm
 IHN
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I'd leave it alone. If you try and repair and it's not perfect afterwards he's more likely to have trouble with a passport that looks like it's been tampered with than one that looks a bit battered.

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 3:20 pm
tall_martin and leffeboy reacted
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I'm guessing it will be OK.. Is it just the page come away from the spine slightly?

Could be viewed as trying to insert a fake page, but that said, it looks fairly innocuous?

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 3:21 pm
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Yeah don't **** with it, it'll look more suspicious.

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 3:28 pm
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Cover the outside with some old patterned wallpaper and whack some sticky back plastic on the inside - job jobbed!!

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 3:31 pm
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comprehensive advice, i'll pass it on and tell him not to glue/tamper with it.  i'll let you know whether he makes it out of the country (and back again) 😀

thanks

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 3:39 pm
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A few years ago I went to the passport office to get one of mine replaced as the paper was tearing around the the photo on 2 sides. When I handed it over in a state where it looked like someone had tried to change the photo the person behind the counter questioned why I was there with it and acted as if me wanting a replacement was suspicious. They actually said they couldn't see why it was a problem! So if passport control are as lax as the passport office it'll be fine 😂

I was very tempted to ask if it was their first day but fortunately I was able to resist that urge

 

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 4:06 pm
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He'll just have to trust to a sympathetic border officer, definitely don't mess with it

You can't use the one day service at Peterborough with a damaged passport unfortunately

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 4:07 pm
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Daughter and her BF got turned away  2 weeks ago at the gate having got through security with his slightly damaged PP. holiday cut very short 😫  not much help but be very careful, any chance of changing hol date to get replacement?

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 5:45 pm
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Was it UK customs that tore it?  I watched my passport being clumsily bent double back before being scanned - wince.

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 6:56 pm
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slightly damaged PP

I'd be interseted to see it... Some peoples idea of 'slightly damaged' is very different to others. 😆 

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 7:23 pm
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Posted by: Edukator

Was it UK customs that tore it?  I watched my passport being clumsily bent double back before being scanned - wince.

 

Maybe the new black passports are built better? (lol)

My proper burgundy passport expires next year.. I'm really sad about that to be honest.

 

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 7:29 pm
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new passports are worse IME.  Mines two years old and starting to look tatty

 
Posted : 02/09/2025 10:50 pm
 poly
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Posted by: Edukator

Was it UK customs that tore it?  I watched my passport being clumsily bent double back before being scanned - wince.

almost certainly not U.K. Customs - it’s unusual for anyone entering the U.K. to have any interaction with Customs and even rarer for them to actually examine a passport.  It could have been UK Border Force but even then most returning U.K. passport holders will use an eGate so less likely to be their rough handling.  

(Sorry it’s just a pet hate of mine that people conflate border force, customs and airport security - perhaps if they understood their three distinct functions airport queues would be more efficient, or politicians would feel under pressure to fix the broken bits).

 

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 6:29 am
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Posted by: tjagain

new passports are worse IME.  Mines two years old and starting to look tatty

Not sure what people do with their passports to knacker them so quickly - my daughter has been using hers a couple of times a week (every week) for the last 2 years and it fine!

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 12:05 pm
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almost certainly not U.K. Customs - it’s unusual for anyone entering the U.K. to have any interaction with Customs and even rarer for them to actually examine a passport.  It could have been UK Border Force but even then most returning U.K. passport holders will use an eGate so less likely to be their rough handling.  

Airport staff ... but the use of gates assumes you only travel through major airports .

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 12:59 pm
 poly
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Posted by: trail_rat

almost certainly not U.K. Customs - it’s unusual for anyone entering the U.K. to have any interaction with Customs and even rarer for them to actually examine a passport.  It could have been UK Border Force but even then most returning U.K. passport holders will use an eGate so less likely to be their rough handling.  

Airport staff ... but the use of gates assumes you only travel through major airports .

Even less likely to be a customs officer if you are travelling on an obscure route!

 

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 1:05 pm
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A mate was allowed on a flight to Canada years ago with the photo basically hanging out of his passport after it was accidentally put in the washing machine a few days before we flew,. The airline (think it was British Airways) made him sign a disclaimer that it was at his own risk and they weren't responsible for his return costs if Canadian immigration wouldn't let him through, which they eventually did

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 2:08 pm
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Posted by: sharkbait

Not sure what people do with their passports to knacker them so quickly - my daughter has been using hers a couple of times a week (every week) for the last 2 years and it fine!

Mine runs out soon and has seen a decade of a lot of use (ID while at work most weeks as well as travel for work) and it's perfectly useable.

 

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 2:49 pm
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I renewed my passport last week and it took all of 3 days, did it online with a photo code from local photographer.  I actually had 2 marks on my forehead having just taken off helmet for pic, they looked like birthmarks, anyway, all passed and seem to have been edited out.

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 7:21 pm
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Maybe the new black passports are built better?

Lowest bid printing and supply job, don't hold your breath.

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 7:26 pm
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Even less likely to be a customs officer if you are travelling on an obscure route!

thats nice. But I don't really care. My comment was regarding your assumption it would be egates.....

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 7:35 pm
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All the print on the cover of mine has worn off and pages are starting to come lose.  I checked an earlier EU passport and its much better made.  I have had to carry it around a lot

 
Posted : 03/09/2025 10:43 pm
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Posted by: trail_rat

it’s unusual for anyone entering the U.K. to have any interaction with Customs

So who was it who pulled us out of the line and had us remove everything from the car then? I used "customs" as an easily understood word for all those bods and bodesses that welcome me to the UK on visits. I'm familar with all the possible ways of entering the UK by boat - foot, bike, leccy car, bus and the tunnel - train, car. But who in their right mind would fly knowing how much CO2 it produces? Sometimes you hand your passport into a booth to be scanned, sometimes you give it to the bus driver and sometimes you scan it yourself if you can work out how to use the scanner before a bod gets irritated. Picky picky picky as usual... . 

 
Posted : 06/09/2025 5:47 am
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Indeed poly (who wrote what I quoted )is being picky. 

UK customs on the south coast ports at the french border in the ferry port being french folk in disguise courtesy of serco service without a smile is apparently standard.  

 

 

 
Posted : 06/09/2025 6:00 am

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