I have been signing people's applications for passports, gun licenses and such for a couple of dozen years and more, and I have almost never been checked up on, with the obvious exception of anything to do with firearms. One such exception was a Sergeant from Dundee who called me at 5.30 on a Sunday morning to confirm that I knew a particular applicant for a shotgun. I couldn't resist asking him what time it was in Dundee, and when he told me I informed him that it was the same time in the Home Counties. He replied briskly, "Sorry, sorr, but I'm going off shift in half an hour and I have tae get this paperwork done".
Today I had a letter from the Passport Office asking me to confirm that I had signed a neighbour's form last month, which I was happy to do. I don't know if that is now standard procedure, or that it was at last my turn to have my name pulled from the hat.
I've signed half a dozen passport applications in the last year or so, and have heard nothing. Mind you, these were all either renewals or passports for the small children of Brits in my little corner of this former colony - probably not very high up in the potential fraud stakes.
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