Anybody here ever lost a passport while abroad? How easy is it to get an emergency travel document?

[Ponders]

DS1 is at a music festival in Germany & his money belt was stolen from his tent overnight with a wad of cash & his passport in it

He is queuing at Lost & Found in the faint hope that it might have been handed in...if not he'll have to get to a consulate/the embassy (???) before Wednesday when he is due to fly on to Spain.

& we haven't got a record of his passport number either...

Also he had already registered his passport details on the ryanair website for the onward flight - will they charge him a fortune to change it? would it be cheaper to rebook? (I've checked & once logged it can't be altered online)

All advice gratefully received!

My sister has, i went with her to the consulate to sort it. You need a photo and some info, and some cash. £100 or so I think. Easy though, took a couple of hours.

excellent, thanks, Loopy

the cash might be a problem though - he banks with Natwest - it's a perfect storm! so even if I transfer some cash he might not be able to access it.

I was wondering if I might be able to pay for it over the phone with my credit card?

He'll have to go to the police first and get a police report saying that it has been stolen.

thanks, belgo - he'll do that after he's checked with lost & found.

DD1 says there should be some sort of police presence at the festival - there must be a quite a bit of crime of one kind or another, unfortunately - do you think that will do or will he have to go to the actual police station?

He has indeed learnt a harsh lesson in that he should never leave such valuables in his tent for any length of time. Too easy for opportunistic thieves to cash in.

He needs to contact the local British Consulate after filing a police report. Has he got travel insurance, if so what does his policy state?.

If there is a police presence at the festival he should speak to them first off but if there is not he will need to speak to them at the police station.

I lost mine in New Zealand. I had to go to consulate in Wellington and hang about for about a week to wait for it. But that was in 1992, so communication is probably better now! It cost some money and time otherwise easy to do.

And yes you definitely need a police report.

I hope your son gets this problem sorted out asap.

This is helpful re crime and festivals; its well worth reading.

www.gloucestershire.police.uk/Crime%20Reduction/Festival%20&%20Events/item11483.html

thank you both Attila, I have passed on the messy tent advice from your link, I'm sure he'll have no problems with that.

He has been to the police this afternoon, & a nice friendly German with good English went along with him to translate if required , so that's the first thing out of the way.

The nearest consulate is Dusseldorf; they are going there anyway on Tuesday, before flying to Spain on Wednesday. I spoke to a very nice man at the FO this afternoon & he said if DS rings Dusseldorf asap on Monday that'll be fine, & then he can go there on Tue to sort out his emergency travel document. I was a bit worried about his passport being used for nefarious purposes before it's blocked but he said that's highly unlikely in such a short time.

Travel doc will be c £95, & FO man said I can pay over the phone with credit card, no probs. The process might take several hours though.

He has excellent travel insurance, Attila, I made him - mostly because he has had serious knee injuries in the past & I wanted to be sure that in the (unlikely) event of him being laid up again we could get him home - I wasn't expecting this!

I said I'd pay, so we paid extra for "comprehensive" cover (much more extensive) & also extra for excess waiver, but even so it was only £38 for 2 weeks & it covers max £200 in lost cash (he reckons he had about 250 euros) & up to £500 in lost passport expenses. "Basic" cover was £20, & that didn't cover lost passport. He will be a lot more cautious about travel insurance in future, I reckon.

The wording says:

'If you lose your passport whilst on your trip, we will pay up to the amount shown in the table of benefits towards any reasonable travel and accommodations costs incurred by you and deemed necessary in order to obtain a new passport or equivalent consular document.'

I'm guessing that means he can't claim for the cost of a new passport once he gets home again as well as the emergency travel document? Will ask though.

Hope it's all OK- would like to say I'd go with him - am only 20mins from Dusseldorf but am back to UK on monday.

My DILs had their passports stolen out here one christmas and were able to get back through the channel tunnel on their OAP bus passes as that was the only photo id they had.

I'm sure the consulate will come through.

FWIW we have scanned copies of our passports emailed to yahoo addresses so if we ever lose them we can look up online for numbers/forward copied to people.

Hope he get's it sorted!

wow, am amazed at getting through the tunnel on their bus passes!

thanks anyway, doradoo - I'm sure he will be fine once he gets to the consulate. Getting the police report in within 24 hours was the most important thing

Today I have scanned all the existing family passports on to the PC & will email them to myself as you suggest! (& will do the same with his once he gets a new one)