Have you ever put your money into a photo booth only to be disappointed with the pictures?

Those problems could now be a thing of the past thanks to a Sussex inventor. Yehuda Hecht, who lives in Brighton, made applying for passports cheaper and easier when he co-invented the photo booth.

But since biometric tests were introduced setting stringent controls on the photographs used in passports, he decided a new process was needed to make it easier while allowing the user to save money.

Mr Hecht and John Guest, who work at the University of Sussex Innovation Centre, have now set up Paspic Pictures, a website that ensures photographs meet the 20 different requirements expected of passport pictures.

Users take their own photographs using a digital camera and upload them to the website. If they meet the standards then copies can be ordered for £3 and are sent out within 48 hours.

Mr Guest said: "Fourteen per cent of passport applications are rejected because the photographs don't meet the required standards.

"Often people will pay £4 to get their pictures in a booth and then pay another £7 to get the application checked over in a post office. Yet still the application can be rejected and they have to fork out another £10 each time until they get the pictures correct."

The Paspic scheme is being brought in at 30 post offices around Brighton and Hove.

Branches give out vouchers for the website with driving licence applications. For every order that branch will get 50p.

If the scheme is successful, it could be used in post offices across the country.

Mr Guest said Paspic was particularly helpful for parents of young children. He said: "About 70 per cent of people have digital cameras and know how to take pictures and upload them on the internet.

"It is also so much easier to take a baby picture at home than in a photo booth."

In the peak holiday season, passport officials return up to 10,000 passport applications each week because they fall foul of the biometric tests.

It can cause major delays for holidaymakers. Liz Goodall, manager of STA travel in North Street, Brighton, said: "I had a friend who had her passport rejected two or three times. It was just small things but it happens. It can be really annoying."

Biometric testing on passports was introduced in March 2006. Photographs must adhere to agreed standards to enable facial recognition technology to work properly.

Information about the passport holder's facial features, including the distance between their eyes, nose, mouth and ears, is then stored on a tiny computer chip.

The scheme was introduced to combat fraud and forgery.

The most common reasons for photographs failing the biometric testing include showing bare shoulders, hair that is too high or a tilted head. For more information go to www.paspic.com

Send your photo booth disasters to picture.desk@theargus.co.uk The worst ones will go into a gallery on this website.