Applying for bus pass

[DebsB]

Just about to apply for a bus pass for one of the Bennetts buses. It wants 4 passport sized photos of DD. I have a suitable photo stored on my laptop, but what's the best way to print it out? If I resize it and print it out on normal paper on a colour printer, is that OK? Or does it need to be printed on proper photo paper? And if so, how do I go about doing that the right size? I'm guessing if I just put the photo on a memory stick and print it from one of those photo printing machines in Boots or similar then it'll come out far too big??

Advice please. Thanks everyone.

[Stressed?Moi?]

I know, it's a pain. What about just scanning and printing the one on her passport and cutting it out? We are lucky because we have just applied for our DS's passport renewal so had some spare. If all else fails, Timpsons shoe repairers do passport photos for £5 or £6 - thought I'd mention it anyway to anyone interested as we just got sick of those flipping booths. I have no doubt whatsoever that resizing a scanned one will be fine. I have rang them several times on other issues and they are really helpful so a call may sort things out.

[Tinkers]

Scanning passport photos is tricky, as the 'watermark' will show up.

A local shop to us takes passport photos, then cuts them to size.

[Kismet]

I know the photo booths are tedious but I found the one in Regents Arcade, by the lifts on first floor, fairly efficient. £5 (I think) for 5 photos so I now have a spare.

[ToadMum]

At least for things like bus passes you don't have to follow the same rules as for passport photos .

DH's recent passport ones are even worse than mine - so awful that I assumed they were a 'joke' set. The 'observations' page copy in DS2's makes him look eerily like a young Myra Hindley minus the hairdo...

(On his bus 'proof of age' one, he just looks about seven and a half, which will be hilarious when he is in year 11 if he hasn't managed to lose it in the meantime).

[Stressed?Moi?]

At least for things like bus passes you don't have to follow the same rules as for passport photos .

DH's recent passport ones are even worse than mine - so awful that I assumed they were a 'joke' set. The 'observations' page copy in DS2's makes him look eerily like a young Myra Hindley minus the hairdo...

(On his bus 'proof of age' one, he just looks about seven and a half, which will be hilarious when he is in year 11 if he hasn't managed to lose it in the meantime).

This made me laugh. My angelic looking (ok, so I may be a bit biased!) ds looked like Ronnie Kray on his. The passport office rejected them twice ; such a waste of time and money. As in my post above, I went to Timpsons in Tesco Tewkesbury Road car park. The chap sat him down and photo'd him then rejected three sets before he was happy. It was brilliant, and passed the Passport Office test. That's it for another 5 years thank god. Don't worry ToadMum, he will definitely lose it!

[ToadMum]

Actually, he did lose the wretched thing on the bus home a couple of weeks ago

Having established with the bus company that it hadn't been handed in, I armed myself with a duplicate form, photocopy of birth certificate, a fiver and a copy of the Myra Hindley photo and trundled off to the office which issues the ID cards.

Which happens to be one of the other local bus companies. And guess what? It had been found by another passenger, who had dropped it off at the issuing office instead of giving it to the bus driver. So DS2 still looks 5 years younger than he is as far as public transport goes, but at least the serial killer look only gets the occasional outing.

[Stressed?Moi?]

Actually, he did lose the wretched thing on the bus home a couple of weeks ago

Having established with the bus company that it hadn't been handed in, I armed myself with a duplicate form, photocopy of birth certificate, a fiver and a copy of the Myra Hindley photo and trundled off to the office which issues the ID cards.

Which happens to be one of the other local bus companies. And guess what? It had been found by another passenger, who had dropped it off at the issuing office instead of giving it to the bus driver. So DS2 still looks 5 years younger than he is as far as public transport goes, but at least the serial killer look only gets the occasional outing.

Arghhhhh! How annoying. Just as a thought, dd's bus company allow them to photo their passes on their phones to use as a one-off proof if they forget their passes, which I think is a very good idea. I think I'll sew ds' to the front of his blazer or hang it round his neck!

[ToadMum]

That's a good idea - I did send him off with a photocopy of his passport, just in case. It was the proof of age card that he lost; strictly if doesn't need it because he definitely doesn't look older than his age, but it would only take a bus driver to be awkward and he would have to pay for an adult ticket for the journey instead of using his season ticket. (To be fair, this rarely happens, unless the child in question is being particularly annoying ).

[MedievalBabe]

DS has a monthly bus pass but has to pay adult prices. We did query it but they said they don't do child passes and student passes don't cover school children as the University subsidise them. So we pay for an adult pass for a 13 year old and soon an 11 year old! Which they had photos on or could be copied to phones as DS has lost his once when it fell out of his pocket. But then again we always make sure he has change just in case, or for those times when we have forgotten to pay for the next month