Destroying out of date passports.

[pattricia 575]

Whats the best way to destroy out of date or cancelled passports.The covers are quite thick,so I thought of taking the covers off and shredding the insides.I rang the passport office for advice ,but they didnt seem bothered,and said "Dont worry about it"but didnt give me any advice.I know no one can use them for travelling ,but they are quite personal documents.

[littleboo 10]

burn it:clap: :clap:

[Yodameister 10]

When I sent off for a new passport about 6 years ago, they just sent back the old one with the new one, but cut a section off the back cover.

 

Why do you need to destroy it?

[Yodameister 10]

Originally posted by Yodameister

When I sent off for a new passport about 6 years ago, they just sent back the old one with the new one, but cut a section off the back cover.

 

Acutally I've just had a look at it, they cut a corner out of the whole thing.

[HotPhil 10]

I'm very surprised the passport office didn't seem bothered about it. What with identity theft being one of the fastest growing crimes and all. I'd be tempted to enquire again and get an official response. Corner missing or not, there's more than enough info in an expired passport for it to easily become a fraudulent one.

[pattricia 575]

Originally posted by Yodameister

Acutally I've just had a look at it, they cut a corner out of the whole thing.

Yes, thats what theve done with mine.But do I keep it or destroy it ?

[Yodameister 10]

Originally posted by pattricia

Yes, thats what theve done with mine.But do I keep it or destroy it ?

 

Well I've kept mine.

 

I should imagine that destroying a valid passport is an offence, and thats why you have to send them your old one. Presumably once the Passport Office have "defaced" it themselves its up to you what you do with it.

[pattricia 575]

Originally posted by hotphil

I'm very surprised the passport office didn't seem bothered about it. What with identity theft being one of the fastest growing crimes and all. I'd be tempted to enquire again and get an official response. Corner missing or not, there's more than enough info in an expired passport for it to easily become a fraudulent one.

I feel exactly the same.Thank you.I know its not now valid,but theres still a lot of information on it.

[muddycoffee 10]

I have kept my old one too. The only danger is if you are just about to go away and you pick up an old passport by mistake which is out of date.

 

If I had an old passport with visa stamps on it I would definitely want to keep it however.

 

I don't understand why anybody would want to destroy their old passport. It's not as if you are going to finish up with a cupboard full of them as they last 10 years each. If I am still wanting to travel into my 70s I will only finish up with 6.

[Yodameister 10]

If you want to dispose of it then either burn it or invest in a shredder, if you don't want to destroy it put it in the back of a drawer and forget about it.

 

Or you could just rip out and destroy any of the pages that you think might hold sensetive information.

 

But a passport has no more sensetive information to the casual observer than a bank statement does.

[melthebell 863]

chop it up, if its too thick try and get it into pages

i chop up all the bills etc we throw away, identity theft is a really nasty crime to get caught up in, not just cash wise, but you could get into trouble for crimes/terrorism who knows.

 

as long as you cut up things like numbers, and address's etc

[Guest]

Originally posted by hotphil

I'm very surprised the passport office didn't seem bothered about it. What with identity theft being one of the fastest growing crimes and all. I'd be tempted to enquire again and get an official response. Corner missing or not, there's more than enough info in an expired passport for it to easily become a fraudulent one.

 

why?

 

what is the difference between that an say an old credit card or bank statement?

 

they could across all the pages so none of them can be re-used.

 

they give them YOU back.