A distraught bride-to-be will miss her honeymoon this weekend because her passport is sitting on a desk in Peterborough.

Tanya Trood marries her fiance Steve on Saturday in a fairytale white wedding in Little Horkesley.

But the fairytale has fast descended into a nightmare as Tanya's passport has not been processed, despite it being sent off two months ago.

What makes the situation more unbearable is that Tanya's current passport is perfectly valid - she only sent it away to have it altered to her married name.

The Passport Agency has even cashed her cheque - but still there is no document.

Tanya, 28, of Mumford Road, West Bergholt, said today: "I am so stressed. There is enough to think about when you are getting married without all of this."

The office cashed her cheque on June 17, so Tanya, a buyer for Sainsbury, believed her passport would soon follow.

When it didn't she telephoned every day for two weeks but not once did she speak to a human. Each time a voice message told her there was no point in applying because of the backlog.

She said: "What makes it even more galling is that they have taken my money. If they could just send back my original passport I could travel.

"It's only a question of putting the old one back in an envelope and I would apply for a new one when we got home."

The former Stanway School pupil has considered joining the long queues at Peterborough but with only two days to go until the wedding she does not have time unless she is assured it would be worth it.

Her fiance has organised the trip as a surprise so she does not know where she is going, but she knows the flights, due to leave on Sunday, are chartered. They can be changed for a later date - but at the couple's expense.

She has enlisted the help of north Essex MP Bernard Jenkin whose secretary has spent two days trying to get through on a special number given only to MPs for inquiries.

Finally, they faxed a request to the office, on a similar special faxline, which they hope will be dealt with.

Mr Jenkin said today: "It is absolutely appalling that people's lives are being affected in this way. I just hope we can help in time."

The escalating problems at the Passport Agency have led to queues of hundreds of people outside offices all over the country and Home Secretary Jack Straw ordering the extension of office opening hours.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.