New passport - photo has cropped top of head off!

[Laquila]

My son's new passport has arrived and his photo has been cropped a bit weirdly - it's cut the top part of his head off! You can clearly see his forehead and bit of a fringe, and then the top/crown of his head is cropped out. I guess my question is, if the passport office are ok with it like that, will anyone else (customs etc) question it?! We go away soon and I can't take the stress of reapplying/sending it back! I'm hoping that if that's how they've provided it, then it's ok and that's that?!

@DoctorRock and no call from the processing team. I did get a text to say that an application had been received, and then a week later a text to say it would be delivered in a few working days

I messaged the Passport Office via their online contact form but no response, and I've done nothing further...the random selection of people I've shown the passport too haven't even registered that his heads cropped tbh and I think PP on this thread are correct - it would be tough to justify denying boarding to a small child with a new passport issued as valid by the passport office, with no inaccurate info on it! I have everything crossed...

Hi, We have just received our children's passports and both their photographs have been cropped and part of the top of their heads have been cropped. All their facial features and most of the head can still be clearly seen. Has anyone travelled on a passport like this? Even though the passport office has approved the photographs, I am concerned that we may be challenged by customs both in the UK and abroad. My question is, has anyone travelled on a passport like this and were there any issues travelling iether from within the UK or abroad. Thank you in advance.

We did not risk travelling, too worried about getting stopped at the border on the way home. We did the covering letter, as described above and sent cheques for paper fee just in case that was a delay.
one passport was returned with re assurance it was okay. One passport was replaced, we were getting worried by the time the second one came back. It was thirteen weeks from first online application to final passports.
we then received a refund of the online fee for the replaced passport a few days later.
I think it’s ridiculous that the online application says the photo is okay but they send a document that does not match their own criteria.

I'm a Border Force Officer and have seen all sorts of passports - cropped heads, wrong dates of birth, misspelled names!

My advice would be to get new ones if you can to avoid delays, but if you're short of time I'm 99% sure you would be fine to travel on them, but there might be a short delay while they're double checked. This depends on the skills and experience of the officer or boarding staff who deals with you, and maybe the strictness of the country you're travelling to. Coming back to the UK would be fine, as the passort office computer system can be checked.

If all the facial features are visible so that the face can be compared with the person in front of me, I would have no issue. Ultimately they're checking that person in front of them is the rightful holder of the passport (and that the passport isn't fake!).

I haven't applied for a passport in a long time but can you print off the application that you submitted? Or the photo you submitted with it? Carrying this might help show that it's a genuinely issued document.

No, you can’t print your application. The problem is, you get a printed photo too and enter a code, so the passport office get the photo you see, but they don’t bother choosing the right part of the photo or crop the digital image wrongly so you don’t know what you’re going to get.
and they lie on the phone to get rid of you, after two hours on hold

Hi @Waxonline, I was the OP here - we travelled to and from the Canaries with my son's passport and no-one batted an eyelid at it. Tbh if I knew I was going to be back and forth outside of the EU or somewhere with much stricter border controls (or if my child had a different name or similar) then I'd probably send it back and ask them to reissue, but I probably won't worry about it now until three weeks before we're next due to fly anywhere 😳🙄😂