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!!!

not looking good for me is it? :-(

Just to show there is light at the end of the tunnel. We fly on Friday 10th and I sent my DD renewal by check and send on July 14th. After chasing the IPS countless times this week by phone and emailing I finally got through to Durham yesterday. The lady informed me that the passport was still awaiting examination and that I could be offered an upgrade Mon next week for an extra 60 quid as they were fully booked till then. I received a phone call this morning from Durham saying that the passport was ready for printing and that an upgrade would delay it! Durham did not receive it till july 18th but it will be sent Mon following the normal process and not upgraded. Hope this helps.

Klovely -I have sent you pm

jopagey - do you know when Durham received your application? Assuming they work through them chronologically so just trying to work out where the are up to? Mine was received on 19th July.

Huggers - Durham received my application on July 18th (another farce as I sent it on the 14th via check and send) Durham have confirmed that it should arrive Tues/Wed next week via courier.

Maybe they will get to mine and my dd's in the next day or so then, hard to tell though really.

Finally got through to Peterborough office. Tried loads of direct numbers (thanks Izzy77 and google :)) but eventually got through via the helpline. I was told they haven't been checked yet but they are with a team. They have put in an upgrade request for me but can't offer same day for first passports. 1 week would be 2 days after our flight. Am just hoping they will do what they can to help... Someone is going to call me back, hopefully today, but she said it could go into tomorrow.

Sick and stressed does not even begin to describe how crap I am feeling at the moment....

Durham just called me back, spoke to a very nice guy who has checked our applications and advised me not to upgrade as he is putting them through to print now and we should have them by the end of next week latest. Feeling a bit more in control now but won't be able to totally relax until I have them in my hand! As everyone has said, once you get through to Durham things begin to move, just keep trying the number. x

Well - we have progress! Peterborough office called me back regards upgrading, they are happy to push them through (so have paid the £60 extra per child). Going to ring me back in a couple of hours to confirm they have gone off for printing. They gave me the option of risking courier (who don't deliver on a Sat & some areas not on a Monday???) or collecting. Opted for the safer option as I don't think I could take the stress of waiting till Mon/Tues! So I am going to Peterborough tomorrow.

Lesson well and truly learnt - renewals will be sent off MONTHS in advance from now - it has been a very costly holiday when you factor all this in.

Fingers crossed for everyone else who is still waiting - we will get our holidays!!

Great news Littlefriendsusan I'm hoping that will be me Monday and I will defo collect myself don't think my nerves would hold a min longer

Does anyone know if there's anything else I can do at this stage, I've spoken to Liverpool office who've got my sons passport and they've just said somebody will ring me back prob at weekend to see about upgrading but we fly a week today so is that going to be too late? I'm so stressed with it all, don't feel like I can pack or arrange anything as not even sure me and the baby will be going also anxious in case DP and in laws do end up taking my older 2 on their own!

Soooo pleased for you LittleFriendSusan!!!! I have learnt my lesson as well & I will never put myself through this stress again.
I will not totally relax till I have the passports in my hand tomorrow. I stay in Glasgow so driving to Peterborough was not really an option plus DSs was in Durham.
Enjoy your holiday!!!!

Glad to hear you are all making progress. Filled in a separate form o. The home office site which finally got me a call from Durham ( the only one after putting 4 call back requests in this week) she said that it looks like it was printed yesterday and is now with courier. I said I need it by Saturday so she have me the couriers number to chase them- she couldn't say if it left their depot yet. Tried ringing courier but can't get through to anyone without a tracker number, which the lady in Durham couldn't give me. Not sure why???!!!!! So I'm none the wiser! The fact that I haven't got a tracker number makes me think it's just sat in a depot somewhere but I need it for Saturday. Bloody nightmare. Anybody been in this situation/ got any advice on what to do next? Seriously, gonna need another hol after this one to help cope with the stress of it all.

nobloodymore-dont panic just yet! When I spoke to Durham yesterday they said that when they phone you back re an upgrade they will take the upgrade payment there and then. Once that is paid the passport is ready within 4 hours. This can either be collected or they will talk through various courier options with you. For an extra £5 they guarantee delivery by 1pm the next day, for £16 extra they will deliver it before 7am. Im sure you will be fine if you dont fly out for another week.

So frustrating that they wouldn't let me pay for an upgrade and 24 hour delivery. Rediculous. Don't understand what systems they are using at all. :-(

I have just spoken to Durham and my DD's passport was printed this afternoon. She said it takes two days by courier and that you dont need the tracking number, if you keep trying you will get to speak to a person. You just need name and postcode. As an aside I had a delivery from DX a month ago and they were a nightmare to contact. In the end I phoned my local depot, they were great and really helpful. Might be worth a try!

Thanks Jopagey, just scrolled back and we're the exact same dates as you, I'm just praying I hear from Liverpool tomorrow re an upgrade, although he did say they are working 7 days

I got my U.K passport renewed this time last year, it took 9 weeks to arrive , I ended up applying for an Irish passport which arrived in under 2 weeks with a lot less paperwork and hassle.

Hi,
I sent my passport off 4weeks ago via check and send at the post office and they still have it awaiting examination! I go away next weds!
I managed to use the 0845 number to get directly thru to Durham office who has now put my application onto the priority team and should receive a call back tomoz with regards to payment etc. Has anyone received this call back when they said they would?? I am really upset and worrying that we wont be able to go next week.
Can anyone give me some advice?

Many Thanks

kimjay1008 - I called Durham this morning and my request to upgrade was put forward to the team, I was told to expect a call back in 2 to 3 days. Durham called me back about 3 hours later, by this point they had examined both my application and my daughter's - so they do seem to be returning calls once you actually speak to someone at Durham and the examination process can be pretty quick. From what other people have said they are pretty good at turning the applications around asap when the timescales are tight. I would be pretty confident that you will get a call back tomorrow given that you spoke direct to Durham.

Oh no how stressful.

It does seem that the Post Office have a big part to play in this farce because they are telling people that Check and Send is 2 weeks, thereby discouraging people from looking at the other options that are available to them.

Whereas if people knew that there were these delays then they could go for one week / one day from the start.

Feel so sorry for all you guys. You may not want to hear this, but I renewed DS's passport via check and send in Feb and it was back 5 days after I handed it to the post office. I was gobsmacked.
You can renew months ahead of the expiry date and they will add I think up to 9months onto the validity. So it really is worth thinking ahead a bit, to avoid the nightmare. Kids passports are a special pain as they are only valid for 5 years and always run out when you're least expecting it.

Good Luck.

To be fair mateysmum I really only have myself to blame, should have renewed them months ago, I just didn't think we would need them as thought a holiday abroad was out of the question. Should take more notice of the old Scout Motto "be prepared"!! Needless to say I will be renewing my other daughter's passport which expires next year well in advance!

Huggers, thanks for your reply. I sincerely hope they do contact me back. My husband has just had to call himself to do his own and they told me someone would call me back tomoz if not monday and now they have told my husband we wont get one until 72hrs. Confusing much. I hope we do manage to get on this holiday. I will be heartbroken to tell my 5yr old he aint going to eurodisney for his birthday. Hes counting down the sleeps!! #heartwrenching.

To give you all some hope out there....
After doing check & send on 16th July & application still waiting to be allocated an examiner (i.e. not flaming started!), I finally got through to Durham this morning via the direct line (thank you so much foxtrotyankee) and they put my sons application through to a priority upgrade queue but said he couldn't guarantee it'd be processed, given we're flying this Sunday morning. He said they'd call if it had been accepted & I'd need to pay the £60 upgrade fee.
My optimism rose from 1% to 2% but still extremely stressed & nervous!
Thankfully just 3 hours later a lovely lady rang & said my only option was to collect personally from Durham which I happily accepted!! So we're off to Durham tomorrow & can all now go on holiday thank goodness It's been a nightmare few days.
Just goes to show my initial phone calls to IPS all results in "there's absolutely nothing you can do", "no chance it'll arrive in time", "you can't upgrade first baby passports", "can only do one day turnarounds on renewals" have miraculously turned out to be untrue.

Good luck to everyone, I unfortunately know how you feel. Won't be leaving it late next time!