UPDATE: Praise your choice of deity, I found it! UPDATE AGAIN: Due to a number of people wanting to know where it was found - I sold my car a couple of months ago and had a bag of stuff I'd removed from the car before it was collected, the bag contained my passport among other things (and a pair of sunglasses - handy!) and was living at the bottom of my wardrobe I am a UK citizen, born and lived in UK all my life. I have a valid UK passport, I believe it expires in about 2 or 3 years. But I can't find it and I go travelling in 4 days from now. I intend to visit the following countries: Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy, France. I will be travelling by ferry between England and Belgium (and the reciprocal on the return) and all other travel will be by private car. I am happy to pay whatever the cost is for a replacement passport but I'm not sure how to get it quickly enough. On https://www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently it suggests that I can get one urgently but only if mine is expired or due to expire soon and I cannot use that service if mine is simply lost. In a panic I tried to phone the passport office on 0300 222 0000, which is the number listed on gov.uk, but it seems fully automated and only tells me to go online and do it there, which I have already failed to do. Some Googling found this page https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/eu-citizen/index_en.htm which strongly suggests that I'll actually be fine without a passport, but I have contacted the support centre for the ferry company and they confirmed I will absolutely need a passport to travel with them. The only other photographic ID I have is a full UK photocard driving license, which the above page explicitly excludes as a valid form of identification. Will I be okay travelling through these countries between 23rd June and 10th July with no passport present? If not, how can I expedite the passport application process? It seems impossible to actually speak to anyone at the passport office.
asked Jun 20, 2018 at 9:30 509 1 1 gold badge 5 5 silver badges 9 9 bronze badges Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. Commented Jun 23, 2018 at 12:55According to EU rules you need either a passport or a national ID card to travel between EU countries.
However, the UK does not issue national ID cards- there was a whole political issue about possibly introducing them during the Blair government which led to them eventually being rejected.
As a British citizen you absolutely 100% need a passport to leave the UK (except for Ireland. though to get on a plane you still need a passport).
There certainly is a 1-day service for passports. I once used this to renew a passport that was soon to run out (only to have said passport stolen a few months later. ) and it worked as advertised:
(none of the other options apply for replacing a lost passport)
The only possible way you would probably be OK without a passport (albeit putting yourself at great risk if you are subject to a random search) is if you're already in continental Europe and travel by land.
From the UK your chances are nil unless you've access to a private boat or some other underhand means.