FARMERS will no longer have to meet costly fees to replace cattle passports lost in the post, following successful lobbying by the Country Land and Business Association.

Until now, the £50 replacement charge had been levied unless farmers could demonstrate that a passport had been lost while in the care of the British Cattle Movement Service.

"This did not include loss in the post," said Dorothy Fairburn, CLA Yorkshire's regional director. "BCMS director, David Evans, has accepted that it is harsh to charge people for documents lost by Royal Mail as it is acting as the service's agent.

"There will no longer be a charge to replace passports lost under these circumstances."

Miss Fairburn said increasing numbers of passports were going astray because of the increasingly unreliable postage system.

"We have been lobbying the BCMS to relax the rules since passports were introduced, and at last the policy has been changed," she said.

"It is an excellent example of the problem our members face when Government sets up a system so that, if anything goes wrong, it is the responsibility of the farmer. This is one small step in putting this right."