Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Lost passport - help

83 replies

Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 17:11

I’m currently at my parents house in France, due to travel home to the UK on Tuesday. I’ve lost my passport. I’ve torn the house apart today and can’t find it anywhere. Please help me with ideas of where to look. Places I’ve looked so far:

Inside my car and my parents car

In my room, including emptying the wardrobe, chest of drawers, bedside tables, long high shelf in my bedroom. I’ve looked under them all too, including the bed. I’ve emptied and repacked every bag etc too.

My Mum has checked her mezzanine landing (set up as office) and her bedroom.

The upstairs attic has been checked, all chest of drawers etc looked inside.

The living room/dining room - all drawers, shelves etc have been searched.

It definitely came into the house and was in the living room for a while, before we think it was taken upstairs.

I’m completely panicking and very very stressed about it 😳😢

OP posts:
SoapyDrama · 11/01/2026 20:35

Id do another search of bags and clothing, I know you'll have done it already but things tend to be in the place you'd expect them to be but sometimes you just don't see them.

Also check any cars you've been in again

jenny38 · 11/01/2026 20:19

If it has been put in a draw, it might have fallen down the back of the unit. Lost my daughters this way, when I open the draw it was pushed out the back of it, and ended up under the draw.

hellsbells99 · 11/01/2026 20:15

Is it a more recent passport - I.e. dark blue? Only asking as we spent ages looking for DH’s and were looking for the old burgundy colour forgetting that he had a new one and it was a different colour! It was in his backpack all along. Other places we have found our lost passports are on the printer/scanner and down the side of the car seat.
Good luck!

Princesspollyyy · 11/01/2026 19:37

I think you may have to accept that it’s lost and you won’t find it. Especially as it may have gone out with the rubbish and that would be in a communal bin x

Original poster
Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 19:06

Nocameltoeleggingsplease · 11/01/2026 18:59

Check the rubbish. It could have been scooped up and thrown out with Christmas things. Or put away with Christmas decorations?

Unfortunately can’t check the rubbish, in my parents area of France you have to take rubbish to communal villages bins and it’s been taken many times recently (including this morning 😢). We’ve checked the Christmas decorations boxes.

OP posts:
Nocameltoeleggingsplease · 11/01/2026 18:59

Check the rubbish. It could have been scooped up and thrown out with Christmas things. Or put away with Christmas decorations?

Original poster
Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 18:55

Divebar2021 · 11/01/2026 18:44

Has anyone left the house that could have picked it up ( ie it’s gone back to the UK with another relative )

I’ve asked everyone who was here and they’ve all said they haven’t taken it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 18:53

PsychoSyd · 11/01/2026 18:44

Which port are you sailing from?

Show quote history

Ouiestreham/Caen with Brittany Ferries

OP posts:
stayathomegardener · 11/01/2026 18:53

Check the paper recycling given it may have been sandwiched between magazines etc.

Nitgel · 11/01/2026 18:45

Use a pendulum to help guide you ? (Last resort buy it helped me find an item i lost !)

PsychoSyd · 11/01/2026 18:44

Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 18:39

I do have my UK driving licence with me, but I doubt they’ll let me on the ferry with just my driving licence unfortunately.

Show quote history

Which port are you sailing from?

Divebar2021 · 11/01/2026 18:44

Has anyone left the house that could have picked it up ( ie it’s gone back to the UK with another relative )

MadamCholetsbonnet · 11/01/2026 18:41

You will have to go to consulate and get a temp passport, which will be taken from you when you arrive back in UK.

It is an expensive business.

Original poster
Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 18:39

TessSaysYes · 11/01/2026 17:39

Do you have a UK driving licence on you?

I do have my UK driving licence with me, but I doubt they’ll let me on the ferry with just my driving licence unfortunately.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 18:38

Summerbay23 · 11/01/2026 17:23

Where do your parents keep their own passports? Is it possible they’ve helpfully tidied yours away to the same place?

We’ve checked and unfortunately it’s not with theirs.

OP posts:
Original poster
Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 18:37

Summerbay23 · 11/01/2026 17:21

Do they have an office/desk/pile of paperwork? Is it possible it ended up on a pile of stuff somewhere?

They do, and apparently my Mum has searched it all and can’t find it. I feel a bit awkward asking to search through all her paperwork myself 😬

OP posts:
Original poster
Lostpassporthelp · 11/01/2026 18:35

AllIdoistidyup · 11/01/2026 17:20

Inside a novel or magazine?
Who took it upstairs and what was it next to?

Unfortunately this is where it gets complicated, I think I asked my Mum to put it where she keeps her’s and my Dad’s passports but it’s not there. Neither of us remember taking it upstairs, however things were very stressful before Christmas and there was a houseful with siblings/girlfriends/boyfriends arriving and departing and both of us could have have taken in upstairs without remembering. I’ve asked everyone who was here at some point over Christmas and no one except my parents remember seeing it.

OP posts:
Squiggles23 · 11/01/2026 18:03

They are very small so if it might have ended up on a shelf definitely take all the books/dvds etc out to make sure it's not just so thin you can't find it! (That was where I found mine once)

TangledUp679 · 11/01/2026 18:00

Underneath a rug in the living room

Down the back of a radiator

Inside a pocket

Down a cushion on the sofa

In the bin / paper recycling bin

Check the bins as a priority in case they’re being emptied soon, but then instead of tearing the house to pieces looking in the most random places, just think really hard about where it could logically be. That usually works for me Smile

Extraenergyneeded · 11/01/2026 17:47

In the printer

rhabarbarmarmelade · 11/01/2026 17:39

3gindown · 11/01/2026 17:18

Cracks in the furniture! Lost my spare one when I was visiting the UK last year and almost convinced myself I had imagined bringing it - then knocked into one of the sectional sofa pieces and saw it poking out from the crack!

Spare one?

TessSaysYes · 11/01/2026 17:39

Do you have a UK driving licence on you?

CarolwithoutanE · 11/01/2026 17:33

We did this yesterday! Emptied everything, bins included! We found it in DDs coat pocket as she took it with her as ID just before Christmas. She completely forgot as she didn’t end up needing it, but was frantic with worry.

Hopefully it turns up soon. Have you needed it for ID at all while you’ve been there?

powershowerforanhour · 11/01/2026 17:30

Down the back of a radiator

goingtotown · 11/01/2026 17:29

Recycling box