Peculiar requests from traveling Britons to the Foreign Office
While they were traveling abroad, some residents of the United Kingdom had a few but odd requests for diplomatic staff around the world:
- A man who required hospital treatment in Cambodia when a monkey dislodged a stone that hit him demanded help getting compensation and wanted assurance that it would not happen again
- A man asked FCO staff in Rome to translate a phrase for a tattoo that he wanted
- Consular staff in Beijing were asked to help a woman who had bought a pair of football boots that were ‘Made in China’ but were poor quality
- A woman requested that consular staff in Tel Aviv order her husband to get fit and eat healthily so that they could have children
- Consular staff in Kuala Lumpur were asked if the FCO could help pay to send their children to an International School
- A man asked consular staff in Stockholm to check the credentials of a woman whom he had met online
- A man asked the Consulate in Montreal for information to settle a £1,000 wager on the colour of the British passport
- A number of British Consulates have been asked to book hotels or to advise on where to watch the football