Passport or ID card laws 'a threat'
The Star is now carrying advertisements for jobs in the Identity and Passport Service office, opening soon in Shrewsbury. The adverts cheerily say "You can really connect with people" while you "interview every adult who applies for their first passport, to check they really are who they say they are".
t all sounds so innocent. But if you are considering applying for this job then look at the unpleasant reality.
At the moment anyone can apply for a passport by post. But people will now be forced to travel to Shrewsbury to be fingerprinted, registered, and asked personal questions.
They won't be pleased. They'll be even less pleased to find out just how much the fees have increased to cover the salaries.
And the documents used to check "they really are who they say they are" are the very same documents they would have used by post - birth certificate, countersigned photographs, and so on - so the point isn't clear.
It gets worse. The Government has passed legislation so they can force every adult in Shropshire to have an identity card. The office you work in will be the local processing centre.
No matter how remote the village, or how elderly or poor, everyone will be compelled to travel into Shrewsbury where they will be charged an exorbitant fee, fingerprintedand asked personal questions.
If they don't answer all the questions correctly they could end up in jail.
Dr Rob Findlay, Co-ordinator, Shrewsbury NO2ID
Popular stories:
Daily news blog
Shrews 2 Macclesfield 1
Find bargains with StarBidz
Town in line for 70-job windfall
Want to eat somewhere new? Read our restaurant reviews
