To think his passport will arrive in time?

[anonhop]

DH left his passport on a train & despite checking every lost property & following up, no luck. Paid for urgent fast stream appointment but the first he could get was today. The rules say the passport will arrive by courier “one week after the appointment”. We fly Sunday…

Does he have any chance of it coming by Saturday? Has anybody used the passport 1 week service recently? London office if relevant…

Firstly please do go with your daughter. If his passport comes soon after he can buy an extra flight and join you a bit later, then at least you won't lose the whole holiday.

Secondly, phone the passport helpline twice a day to check on progress. If you can get hold of someone at your MP's office they have a special secret number (not available to the public) they can call to chase too. Another tip is once you know it's been printed, offer to go straight to the passport office to collect (if possible) so you aren't waiting for it to be sent out. It may or may not get to him in time but worth trying everything. If you have an imminent trip booked the helpline people will try and make it happen (though some are more helpful than others!)

4 years ago my daughters passport renewal got stuck in a backlog even though I thought I'd applied in plenty of time. Lots of calls, MP calling and me offering to collect passport meant we finally got it two days before our holiday flight. Never again!

@Sunseasand2 thank you so much- that’s given me a bit of hope. How long ago was your experience? X

@honeylulu thank you so much for the advice! I’ll tell him to keep calling the helpline and begging!! Will defo ensure he has offered to collect x

Wouldn’t trust it. My son had to renew v quickly and made a face to face appointment. Think you have to go to Docklands but I could be wrong.

Our Royal Mail office isn't delivering letters only parcels so we are getting a pile of post about once a week . The manager has told them to concentrate on parcels only.
Hopefully because it will be tracked it will come as a priority. Fingers crossed. I would go to the sorting office on Saturday just incase it's there if it's not come, plead with them if theyve got it there. Good luck.

It was summer 2024, actually almost exactly 2 years ago as it was July so sImilar timing in terms of “holiday season”

How was his photo not accepted? That’s incredibly annoying. The Photo Booth thing is usually good at making an accepted photo or telling you to retake.

It’s such a shame, but have you tried speaking with the hotel and airline, to see if you can move anything by a few days? If not. Then I’d take the financial hit of booking a few extra nights at the hotel and just book a later homecoming flight, so you still get your holiday.

I’d find it hard not to be slightly pissed off with him for leaving his passport on the train. Why did he even have it out with him when you’re travelling so soon so couldn’t really risk losing it!

@Whosthetabbynowhe had his appointment at the Docklands today. Just wondering whether it’ll come on Saturday ready for Sunday… x

@Cockerpoomom oh gosh don’t say that! We’ve also got very hit and miss post, often getting a clump of letters all at once. They say passport is delivered by courier so fingers crossed ?

@Skippyasyermuni he had to take his passport to work that day for visa arrangements for a work trip & left his entire bag (laptop and all) on the train 😭

@Sunseasand2brilliant, thank you so much x

The photo was fine, but it’s the same as his last passport (which was only issued 3 months ago!!) which apparently isn’t allowed

Ah ok. Fingers crossed xx

I used the regular service to renew my passport. I sent my old passport off via the overnight tracked Royal Mail last Thursday.

Friday - got an email saying it had been received
Saturday - passport application approved
Monday - new passport being printed
Today, Tuesday - posted to me, and should arrive tomorrow

I'm sure they have to do other things when your passport is lost, but it was incredibly quick! I hope your son has no issues 🤞

When I had an person appointment the appointment was on the 3rd and the passport arrived at home on the 7th, so there is hope. This was several years ago mind.

Thanks all. It really sounds quite 50/50 which is agonising!

My mum is going to look into the possibility of coming with me. I have some mobility issues (nothing major) which make me hesitant to travel with DD alone. I can’t always lift her if she is throwing a paddy (she’s almost 2!) so I get very stressed in busy places, and the heat makes my pain worse (41° where we are going…)

I will keep you all updated! X

I've just done a passport application and it does say clearly in the photo guidance that the photo needs to have been taken in the past month. Tell him to make sure to read the requirements properly before submitting again!

@piscesangelthank you!! He is a terror for not reading things properly, leaving things on trains (ehem)! I will let him know x

And ive just told you it wouldn't be classed as a first adult passport, it would be classed as a renewal that just happens to give him a 10 year passport rather than a 5 year one. When my dd went from a child passport to an adult passport it was done as a renewal as a 1st adult passport means the 1st passport they've ever had.

Well the Passport Office told me that we couldn't make him an in person appointment due to his previous child one being lost 🤷‍♀️ so we did it as standard, and tbh I'm glad, as we didn't waste fuel and time travelling to an office (we don't have one near), because we got the passport in 8 days anyway- which suited us fine.

If the Visa was applied for using the lost passport it's possible that the application may need to be updated with the new passport number when his new passport gets there.
Have him check with work.

I did a 1 week fast track last Tuesday, it was printed the same day, delivered to my house Thursday and I flew Saturday - currently in Greece 😁 I was at the Newport branch if that makes any difference.

Can you leave DD with your DH and have a lovely relaxing night on your own before they join you?

@RedVolkswagenBeetlethanks! This is on my “worry about next week” list. Work trip not for a few months!

@Gnomeo8that gives me hope! Thank you so much!! Enjoy Greece & hope the passport stress is long behind you!