Hi everyone, Thanks very much for all your good advice. I am definitely going to investigate all these things and send some more letters out to all those head honchos at Merlin. I am glad that you all feel I have a case here, as I didn't want to get into some battle where I was being ridiculous, or might end up standing to lose even more. But it's right, I don't see why I should stay out of pocket for all the expenses I have incurred. Wish me luck!!

Thanks guys:-) Yeah, I have reported it as lost, as if I'd reported it as only 'missing' they wouldn't have let me get a new one immediately, which I needed to go away. And I didn't see why I should miss out on my trip. I have also written an extensive complaint letter to the head quarters of Merlin Entertainments, and have received absolutely no reply- hence why am trying to find out where I/they stand. Not only is the whole mix up pretty appalling, then there's their complete lack of any kind of assistance to help me locate it, and to add final insult to injury, they do not even apologise or respond to my letter to explain what might have happened. I am really shocked at their bad service!

Hi Dotty50 Thanks very much for the quick response. Yeah, I spoke to the passport office several times and they said there were only two choices- wait for it to turn up, and not be able to leave the country, or register it as lost, which I did. There were probably around 20 people at the interview. The first thing I did when I found out was ring the guy who's passport I had (his number was in the back). I hoped it would be a straight forward swap but he checked his bag and somehow found that not only did he not have my passport- he didn't have one at all! Which begs the question did they actually lose one of the group's completely, as how else did he end up with none, unless someone else got two back? The weird thing about this was that the guy was completely unfazed about his missing passport. I asked him if he would just message me his address details so I could post it on to him, and he's never got back to me to this day, so his is sitting in my room waiting! I tried to trace anyone else that I could from the day, but only managed to find one other person, who didn't have it. I don't know what else I could have done.

I went to a group interview with a Merlin Entertainments establishment in December, and was asked to provide my passport for verification of my right to work in the UK. I did so willingly and they collected everyones in and took them away to copy. Later, in the middle of our session, they went round handing them back to the 'correct' people and it wasn't until I got home that I realised I had been given the wrong one. I tried contacting them by every way possible asking if they could just contact everybody else who was at the interview and ask them to check whether they had mine, but they were completely uncooperative. They said they couldn't do anything, said I should just buy a new one, and basically just ignored all further correspondence I tried to have with them. It was such a simple request that they could have helped me with and I feel like if they had done it, I would have got my passport back. As it was in the end I had to buy another one at 130 pounds in order not to shatter my christmas plans, money I did not have as I was job seeking in the first place. I then contacted them again with a very polite, formal letter explaining everything and asking whether they would at least acknowledge the serious neglect that happened on their part, but again I have been absolutely ignored. My other worry is of course that someone has used my passport to gain a false identity, so it could be a very serious matter. I have followed up the letter with calls and emails, which have been passed on through different departments and again, ignored. Could anyone tell me what the situation is here, I mean are they liable for anything at all? Is there someone else I should contact, or do they just get away it scott-free? It makes me so angry as I have been through so much hassle and none of it was my fault- I applied in good faith for a job I believed in and ended up forking out around 200 pounds in phone calls, transport and new passport. Anything anyone could suggest would be GREATLY appreciated!