A postal mix-up has denied two Colchester girls the chance to see their soldier dad for the first time in two years.
Kirsty and Courtney Smith are booked on a flight this Friday to stay with their father, who has been stationed in Germany for three years and recently completed a tour of duty in Iraq.
The girls' mum, Sharon Evans, is divorced from the high-ranking officer.
She needed a new birth certificate to get five-year-old Courtney a passport for the trip, as her original one had been mislaid.
She sent off an application form to the Births and Register Office in Pembrokeshire by recorded delivery.
Staff there received it and put it in the post, but now six weeks later it has failed to materialise.
With time running out, a worried Mrs Evans sent off another form and a second certificate was issued.
This time the envelope turned up back in Pembrokeshire marked "gone away" even though the family were at home.
Colchester MP Bob Russell has pledged to take up the matter, but she faces a race against time.
Published Tuesday July 27, 2004
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