Old style UK passports

[SpringHeeledJack]

I was travelling a few days ago and stood beside 2 very English passengers at the gate and they both had old style black UK passports. Now I've seen the covers that one can place the newer EU purple/wine coloured ones so that they look like the old one's, but these didn't have anything around them :8

So my question is can you still get them if you know how (someone told me this about 10 years ago who seemed to have done it) ?

[Anansis]

Bet you're rueing not asking them before boarding :}

My guess would be that they were citizens of either the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. As Crown Dependencies, neither are part of the United Kingdom nor the European Union.

Residents of Cown Dependencies are entitled to apply for UK passports as British subjects but they are not British citizens. They are not residents of the EU and do not have any of the automatic rights that EU citizensip bestows (e.g. right to live and work in another EU country). I presume that as they live outside the EU, there is no requirement for their passports to be standardised in the same way that passports issued by EU countries are.

That's my hypothesis...

[Haven't a clue]

My IoM passport is the same colour as your EU ones... So not ours, then.

But I am a British Citizen, and, because I have an English grandparent I have the right to work in the EU. However my children (also British Citizens) do not. Unless they spend 5 years ordinarily resident in the UK. It's a complex subject, but I fear has no bearing on the OP's question on old British passports.

[Shack37]

I was travelling a few days ago and stood beside 2 very English passengers at the gate and they both had old style black UK passports. Now I've seen the covers that one can place the newer EU purple/wine coloured ones so that they look like the old one's, but these didn't have anything around them


SHJ
The old style UK passports were dark blue so perhaps they were not what you thought.

[pzu]

Probably wrong, but aren't members of the House of Lords entitled to the 'old style passports'

[SpringHeeledJack]

Thanks for the replies so far, I'm sure that they were either black OR dark blue, one has always had a job differentiating when the shades are close, though it does give one an opportunity to ask strangers (female) in shops what colour something is :p

Maybe Lord Chuffington-Smythe does have the right to a special passport, it wouldn't shock me with all the perks that they get for snoozing on the back benches :rolleyes: The person that told me, 10 years ago seemed to indicate that through certain well placed lawyers it was possible ? As for my fellow passengers, the passports to my eyes were black/very dark blue and slightly bigger than the standard EU passport if that helps.



SHJ

[Shack37]

Thanks for the replies so far, I'm sure that they were either black OR dark blue,


True, especially in not so good light. Could you tell if the passports were hard cover or soft?

The UK Seaman's Discharge Book is dark blue in colour and hardbacked though I think a bit bigger than the old UK passport. Perhaps Capn Tony could display one. The SDB is certainly valid for ID on domestic flights and maybe international.

[Businesstraveller]

Anansis is pretty well on the mark. All of us UK chaps and chappeses now have burgundy passports which state:

EUROPEAN UNION
UNITED KINGDOM OF
GREAT BRITAIN
AND NORTHERN IRELAND

(Royal coat of arms)

PASSPORT

For Bermuda, British Virgin Islands or St.Helena, your passport will be navy/black and state:

BRITISH PASSPORT

(Royal coat of arms)

TERRITORY NAME

For Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos, Guernsey, Jersey or IoM - it's varying combinations of burgundy with/without 'European Union' etc etc.

Only others are British diplomatic passports or Queens messenger passports. Not likely to see those though unless you're; a) a diplomat/messenger or b) flying 1st class.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Without having any proof, I think on balance that they were probably Bermudan, as we were about to get on an european flight and they could well have interlined/transited from Hamilton on the world's favorite airline to the shorter leg also by same. Occam's razor and all that :8 Thanks for the replies gents.



SHJ

[Chuchinchow]

I am in the process of clearing my parents' house, and I spent a dusty (but nevertheless pleasant) day going through my late father's papers.

One item that I found interesting was his first passport, issued in 1937 when he was 21. It was, of course the navy blue model with the two slits in the front cover for the document serial number and the bearer's name.

The entire booklet was hand-written in green ink. My father's "national status" is given on the first page as "British Subject by birth". I was amused to see an "observation" (dated on the same day the passport was originally issued) on page 5 noting a discrepancy in the spelling of the surname on the cover. Clearly the clerks at the Foreign Office were discouraged from wasting blank passports!

The validity for travel is somewhat quaint, too. Mr Chuchinchow Snr was accorded the privilege of travelling throughout "the British Empire [see Regulations 6 and 7], all Countries in Europe including the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Turkey". In actual fact, he only made it to Dieppe from whence he took a train to Paris.

The passport was due for expiry on 17 July 1942, but by that time CCC Snr had travelled far and wide, on his Sovereign's behalf, without any need for a passport. He did need a steel helmet, though.

[L'aviateur]

Chuchinchow, was actually managing 12 nepalese crew recently, all of whom had hand written passports. Although as of earlier this year they have finally been phased out (the last country in the world to).
Was interesting to see the US Border Protection curiously wondering where to swipe...

[intortola]

Sorry, British Virgin Islands passports are exactly same colour as UK passports just state "VIRGIN ISLANDS" on the bottom. These days though BVI citizens are entitled to full UK passports.