Help - Passports renewal application stuck at Durham Passport Office and we are traveling this Friday

[wujo]

hi all,

I am desperate!!!

Passports sent via PO Check and Send on the 2nd July.
Called the IPS 0300 number over 60 times today - got through a dozen times.
Cant escalate - can't get transferred to Durham.
Cant talk to anyone.

I am crying and feeling sick as it will ruined the holidays for my twin girls, my son, my husband and my mum.

Can someone help or know someone from the Durham office help us!? We prepare to drive up from Bristol tomorrow to pick them up if need be :(

Help!!!

I'm currently waiting for the woman I was speaking to on Thursday to call me back tonight. So hoping she does :( In between times I've called numerous times and spoken to lots of people, requested call backs etc. It's a nightmare. She was due in to work at either 4pm or 6pm but nothing yet.

Dd1 is due to travel tomorrow afternoon. I'm so worried. If I hear nothing then I'll have to wait until the morning to call back, at which point I just hope it's been printed and I can collect as it'll be cutting it close as it is.

It's all on the system and waiting to be looked at and passed to printing last I was told this afternoon. So stressed.

My kids passports turned up this morning, I'm in Scotland and its actually only been 2 weeks, I was beginning to panic after reading this thread. Just to let everyone know courier told me there seems to be a big problem generally and offices are working 24 hours a day 7 days a week to cope, hes not complaining as hes very busy as hes self-employed! Fingers crossed everyone waiting will get theirs soon!

Yeah, my children's passports were printed on Saturday, so they were obviously working over the bank holiday weekend.

the people on 0845 (durham) - do they get funny with you for calling this number?

We got it! I'm so relieved. Picked it up at 12 and she's now all ready at school to leave at 2.30 today! Phew. Lots of phone calls later and a busy morning a manager called back and we got it all sorted out.

That's great news Cheese!

hi all!
i am fuming!! i sent application for 1 sons renewal and 1 sons first passport 4 weeks ago to london passport office.payment was cashed the next day! .i got an sms to say forms being processed so i was happy. i contacted them on Tuesday 6thmay as had nothing back,only to be told they have sent the paperwork to DURHAM office and i could not talk to them direct!,but London have requested urgent dealing with it as i am supposed to travel in a few days!! and i should get a call in 48hours!.
after reading letters on this website,i contacted DURHAM direct,only to be told they have not processed anything and were contacting my referral client for clarification!!!(one of my passports is a renewal and the other one is for my second son!!! what else can they possibly need?)The upshot of this is they need to now FAX over the paperwork to the referral person(no idea why)get it signed again!! FAXED back then charge me a further £130 for the rapid return service( it has been over 4 weeks)with no guarantee i will receive the passports by Saturday 10th may when were supposed to fly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is just a money grabbing stalling service!!
helppppppppp

by the way i live in croydon!! so why has application been forwarded to DURHAM when my office is LONDON??

I would say to keep calling Durham, a lot. I didn't find the main number knew much at all.

Well I phoned Durham at 4pm this afternoon (for some reason I had a vision of them telling me off for using the number)- I actually spoke to the nicest man I have ever spoken to in any type of customer service role.

He checked DD's application, said not to worry that there was still plenty of turnaround time but he would 'alert' the team looking at her application.
He said not to send in the birth certificate until I hear from them, but I still have plenty of time (in his view) to get the passport now.

At 4.45 I received an email from a work colleague to tell me that someone from the passport office had phoned my office at work.

They didnt try my home number or mobile but did say they would call tomorrow.

I am now much more relieved.

@tiredemma
Pls can u assist with d Durham phone number u used. Mine is a first adult passport which I applied for since feb 15th and the people at 300 are still telling the same story "under investigation" I need to travel next month but it's almost three months. No positive response. Am really fed up.

So after a two month wait, I finally received my son's first passport today. So we get to fly out this Friday as planned. After sending an email to my local MP, her secretary called me and said he would speak to the passport office. On that same day I paid for an upgrade, the passport was printed on the same day and posted by guaranteed next day delivery. I would advise anyone that is flying soon and is still having trouble, to email your local MP. It really does help and they will be willing to help. For anyone trying to contact Durham, try 08456015175. It may say that the number is only for people who have received a letter but just stay on the line until you speak to someone. This got me through straight to the Durham office and they will be able to give you more information than the 0300 number, if your application is at their office. Good luck with everyone waiting for a passport. There is hope, even if your flight is a week away like my situation.

Hi all, just found this thread via google and need some advice.

I'm going on holiday with a friend and her two year old son next Thursday (15th May). She submitted passport appplications for her (renewal) and her son (first passport) approx 4 weeks ago.

She received a confirmation text message saying the applications have been received a couple of days after she sent them but has heard nothing since and no money has been taken (she chose the credit card payment option).

She didn't use the check and send service and didn't keep a note of the barcode numbers on the application forms so has no way of tracking them.

On Tuesday she called the 0300 number and was told the applications were at Durham but that without a barcode they couldn't give her a timescale. They said someone from Durham would call her back within 48 hours (no call so far).

Has anyone managed to successfully chase an application WITHOUT the barcode reference number? Happy to pay extra to fast track it if necessary but the problem seems to be finding out where it is in the first place!

Have sent her the number for the Durham office (from the post above) and advised her to contact her MP but starting to sweat a bit now, especially as they haven't even taken payment yet.

Also how do you go about booking an emergency appointment? Can that still be done if you already have an application in the system?

Any advice would be much appreciated, doesn't help that I'm in London and she's in Leeds so I'm not really in a position to run round the North of England chasing this up for her!

Thanks in advance, Gordon.

I live in London and last time my daughters application was sent to Peterborough. This time when I got an application from the post office it was in an envelope addressed to Durham. I sent it check and send though and they use their own envelopes so I have no idea where it went this time...got a feeling its Durham though. Apparently if a passport office is really busy and receives a lot of applications they send some to another office to process. Not sure why they would send to Durham though, seems like they're the busiest at the moment! Sent my daughters application (for name change) off on may 1st...called this morning to confirm they received and was told they received on 5th may. Strong chance that we will be travelling in June so I'm hoping we get it back soon. This will be her second passport and as its a simple name change hope it won't be a hassle.

Peterborough told me they're very busy and they have a huge backlog to clear. Plus when their power went down, so did the printers and they weren't up and running again until the next morning.

I have submitted two passports on line last week. I posted the paperwork last wednesday and i received my dd's passport this morning and according to the website, my dh's passport is being processed now. The address for that is the glasgow office.

@GGDT

I was in exactly the same situation as your friend with my daughter's first child passport. Application submitted beginning of April, heard nothing by end of April with travel date of 13 May, didn't have the barcode ref so 0300 number were worse than useless.

I eventually found the Peterborough office number online and they put me through to Durham who were processing the application, only for them to tell me that they were rejecting the photos for some incomprehensible reason and that it had taken them more than 3 weeks to decide that. Got put in the "upgrade" queue (ordered by travel date) and sent new photos back on Friday. Chased them every day since and got a call this morning from examiner to tell me that he would get the passport sent out today for which I had the privilege of paying £60. Should (hopefully) get it tomorrow.

I'd strongly suggest your friend getting on the phone to Durham (0845 601 5175), telling them that she has a travel date before 15 May (I was never asked to evidence the travel date although I did voluntarily) and asking for an urgent upgrade.

Good luck!

Also...you can't make a fresh application in person without first withdrawing (in writing) your existing application, and you can't use the same day service for a first child passport (quickest available is the one-week fast track) so she'd be cutting it very fine to go down that route.

Please somebody message me Peterborough passport contact details ASAP
Thanks

thanks david123 I have just called the Durham office. We are due to fly on the 12th and my daughters passport and my husbands renewal has been stuck at Durham for some time. We was told we would have them easily by the 1st May and have called daily since but got no-where. Today my husband has drove 4 hours to Durham and is sitting in there reception with quite a few others (most flying tomorrow). We are in the upgrade queue waiting for a call back now. But I do feel like I have at least spoke to someone who can do something rather than the 0300 call centre.

I think after this whole process I will need a few holidays to recover!

Just thought i'd give some hope to people as i've been in the same situation as a lot of you. DD application has been sent off (with check and send) since 17th April. I thought that once we got to 3 weeks, (Tuesday just gone) i could upgrade to 1 week guarantee service as we don't fly till next Friday (bad assumption on my part!). Then i had to deal with 0300! Firstly, they wouldn't answer and i just kept getting an automated callback service - no callback. Eventually got through yesterday and they said that they would request a callback for me from Durham but this wont be for 48hrs, totally messing up my timings and possibly getting the passport a day late. Then i found this post and the direct number for Durham 0845 601 5175. [CALL THEM NOW - they are extremely helpful and very nice.] With a child's first passport its much quicker so the upgrade happened straight away, got a call back after 3 hours to say the passport was ready (after it hadn't even been looked at this morning) and gave me 3 options - They will send it standard 1st class signed for, i can pay for guaranteed next day delivery (circa £6), or i can collect in person from tomorrow onwards.
Couple of tips - the fast track service is only available to those traveling within 14 days and they ask when you are traveling and each case is given priority depending on this.
Also, the guy told me that although the office is officially not opened at weekends there will probably be overtime people there so you might be able to call then.
Don't give up hope!

@Donna505

How long did you wait in the line until someone is talking to you. I am trying to call the Peterborough office. But keep hearing the dailing tone. Am I waiting to be connected?

So there is no hope for those of us applying from overseas because the only phone contact we can reach is 300 guy. Am really not happy

hi guys/gals!
don't you all see a catch here??? we are all seeming to be charged a further £60 per passport,just for the "privilege" of having our applications dealt with!!
i had to pay £130 extra on top of the £116 for 2 child's passports which will only last 5 years,after waiting over 5 weeks for them to be processed (should only be 3 weeks max according to the government web site).
we are all being ripped off!!!!
is there somewhere or someone we can contact to get our overcharge repaid(and compensation for shoddy service)online???
1 of the passports i applied for was a child's renewal so £123 for a 5 year passport is a total rip off!!!
thanks

@ Abbied1 and Eric1234 - What peterborough numbers are you guys dialing?

Don't lose hope as my kids passports are coming through DX post (tracked) and should be with us within the next 2 days!