10,000 passports thrown away every year in UK

The Identity and Passport Service said its research shows a 60:40 split between genders when it comes to replacing lost and stolen passports, with more than 1,62,500 passports replaced each year by men compared to around 1,12,000 by women.

Around 40 per cent (110,000) of the passports replaced each year belong to people in their twenties, with approximately 10,000 of those lost while on a night out in a bar or club. Unusual reasons given by Britons for losing passports include: placed on a fire with clothes, lost while in prison, put in bin by infant daughter, drunk boyfriend (now ex) destroyed it, fell out of bag while snowboarding on a mountain, last seen in the pocket of a coat donated to tramp, wallet was stolen at a children's party with passports inside.

Sarah Rapson, chief executive of the Identity and Passport Service, advised Britons: "Your passport is not only increasingly attractive to fraudsters, but it will cost you at least 77.50 pounds to replace, so it's really important that you keep it safe both when you are at home and when you are abroad."