Finger-nail biting time?

Back in January or February I countersigned a passport application for a friend of mine.  I asked her when she was going away and she said "Oh, not until August, but I want to get ahead of the game".  It would appear that there are some thousands of people who would have done well to follow her example, because the Passport Office is at present struggling to cope with a backlog of last-minute applications and it may well be that some people will not be able to go on the holiday they have booked because their passport will not arrive in time.  Never bank on a Government Department doing what it says it will!