text: Thousands of holidaymakers caught up in last summer’s passport delay fiasco have not received any compensation. At the same time, managers at the passport agency, which made a £42 million profit during the chaos, received up to £3,500 in bonuses. Ministers refused to give a blanket refund to the desperate families who had to pay extra to get their travel documents rushed through, and even to some who missed out on trips. Scroll down for video . The boxes of passport applications piled up at in office in Liverpool at the peak of the backlog last summer . Keith Vaz, who as chairman of the Home Affairs Committee led the calls for compensation, said last night: ‘I am astonished so few people have been given compensation for what was a fiasco presided over by the management of the passport office, especially as they made a profit last year that ran into millions of pounds.’ The problems began a year ago as HM Passport Office struggled to cope with 3.6 million Britons applying for documents. By mid-June there were more than half a million passports stuck in the system. Ministers agreed to give urgent cases a free upgrade to the fast-track service, but thousands had already paid the extra £30 per passport for this. Many still missed trips because their passports did not arrive in time. Details obtained by The Mail on Sunday show scarcely any of the thousands of holidaymakers caught up in the chaos ever got anything back from the Passport Office. In total just 2,191 compensation applications were approved between April last year and January this year, scarcely changed from 2,077 for the previous year. The total paid out was £203,066, giving an average sum of £92.68. The biggest single payout was £5,463; the lowest £1. The Passport Office said it could not say how many claims were rejected, partly because of ‘the system failure of our customer complaint database’. It can be revealed however that Ministers rejected a demand by the Home Affairs Select Committee for all those left out of pocket to be compensated, saying: ‘It would create a precedent.’ Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz led the calls for compensation and was 'astonished' to learn just 2,191 compensation applications were approved . This newspaper contacted more than a dozen holidaymakers who had either missed trips or had to pay extra to get passports in time. Only one had got money back. Among those refused were Mathew Bean and Hayley Kirkham. They lost close to £1,500 on a trip to Morocco, where he had planned to propose, because their passports did not arrive in time – even though they had applied ten weeks before they were due to travel and paid for upgrades. HM Passport Office made a surplus of £42.3 million between April and October last year. In 2013-14, the most recent figures available, managers were handed a total of £1.8 million in bonuses, with the average reward £499 and the highest £3,500.
target: HM Passport Office struggled to cope with 3.6million Britons applications .
  Ministers agreed to give urgent cases a free upgrade to fast-track service .
  Only 2,191 compensation applications were approved totalling £203,066 .
  Meanwhile managers at agency were handed total of £1.8million in bonuses .