Help - Does anyone work at the Passport Office at Durham

[janeb204]

Im at my wits end...I need to speak to Durham Passport office, I am going on holiday Saturday and my daughters passport renewal is stuck in a backlog at Durham. I will pay for accelerated service but can't get through to ask for it. The general phone number takes hours to be answered, the call back service doesn't work, the 48hr email reply service doesn't reply. Can I drive to Durham and sit and wait. I'm frantic to resolve this...but what can I do? Has anyone got any suggestions of what I can do....apart from cry? Does anyone work there and can tell me something I can DO

cskinner iv just come off the phone to Durham was waiting exactly 1hour for an answer , u just have to be persistent, they are working to travel date tho and seems they don't start doing applications until 1 week prior to your travel date. don't give up, ring the number leave it on the hook go do some housework or something and go back after 30-40 mins ....good luck

Right some progress has been made... I've been on the phone to Belfast (0300 number - eek!) and they said my passport has been received and is currently going under security checks and examination and she asked me when I was traveling and she said it will take 2 weeks to come but she isn't certain. I'm sure it was the progress department, she seemed quite helpful. If she's correct, it should be here before I go away! She said to phone back in a week? I'm going to phone the direct Belfast line (found several numbers online) in a bit and try and get more information from it!

Just keep trying, cskinner001. They will answer eventually, I'm so tempted to go to Belfast and just collect it! Look online for other direct numbers...

Keep trying the 0845 number I was just on hold for 45 mins but they are very helpful when they do actually answer - its worth it!!

Another nightmare story here

3 children's passport applications sent on 2nd may, 4th May and 7th may respectively for travel on 5th July.

2 were renewals and 1 was child's first passport (one was online renewal sent to p'boro and the others sent to Durham)

Hadn't heard anything after 2 weeks , googled found these threads and decided to be fair to them and wait until 3 weeks ( I had been advised by the advice line that 8 weeks to travel was ample time - he even laughed when I suggested I would be better getting fast track appointment )

Peteborough renewal (sent 4th may) had a query on it last week, sent back special delivery and passport was printed last Friday - got a text - amazing! Still not received it but at least it has been printed and en route.

Involved MP at this point regarding the other two at Durham - and she has been useless. Basically told me the Durham two are awaiting examination and the Peteborough been sent for printing. Errr yes love, I knew that. Went back to MP and insisted she get some answers for me re timescales, reasoning for delay etc still waiting to hear.

Rung Durham this morning waited 35 mins lady took reference number and then cut me off, arghhh! Rung again 40 mins later spoke to James at Durham - said one of them is due to be looked at imminently. His hands are tied re upgrade until 1 week before travel - totally fair but still no guarantee that our passports will be with us for travel on 5th July. Our counter-signatory is a company director so I bet he will be sent a letter - as the renewal is for a 6 year old with a previous picture at 6 weeks old!

So another one left in limbo - Had I known 8 weeks before travel would not have been sufficient I would have happily made an appointment at Glasgow ( nearest office) for a fast track 7 day service for both.

Totally disillusioned with the whole thing and sick with worry that our travel plans will be ruined. I cannot stress to everyone reading this give yourself 3 months if your passport is going to Durham for complete peace of mind. If not get a fast track - I do not wish this worry on anybody.

Good luck to everyone for a speedy resolution

It's arrived!!!!! Yay!!!

Sent applications: 1st May
Received at PP office: 7th May
First rang to check up on Friday 30th May
Emailed MP Saturday 31st May
Rang every morning at 8am for progress reports
Received call from upgrade team Wednesday 4th June
Received passport by special delivery Thursday 5th June
I travel Saturday 7th June x

This gives me hope!!!! Have a lovely holiday!

Desperate mummy...i know how frustrating it it!!! They received my daughters renewal 5th may and it's been awaiting examination ever since. On Monday they sent a letter to countersigner which i completely didnt expect as I thought they only done that with first passports. If i had known there would be such a delay I would have paid the extra 40 quid in the beginning for it to be 1 week fast tracked at the London office. This is absolutely ridiculous! I plan to travel 24th June. I have to go and see countersigner later to see of she's received the letter. It's all so stressful! If she hasn't got it by tomorrow I think I will actually call durham just to scream down the flipping phone I'm so annoyed at how long this is taking, the lack of information from advice line and the amount of time and money you have to spend calling an 0845 number just to get some accurate information. Arrrgghhh

On the phone to the Belfast office (direct number) I've been waiting 10 minutes and they haven't answered! This is such a mess! Looks like I'm going to have to reschedule my holiday at this rate!

projuly when you rang daily what did you say to them I think they are getting fed up with me calling asking the same thing :/

Thankfully countersigner received letter today!!!! Took 3 days to get to her (thanks for sending it 2nd class durham you guys are clearly in no rush). She said she will get it sorted and sent back today. They want her to write a letter confirming she knows us. They should get it back by Saturday. I'll give them until tuesday/Wednesday to receive and update application. Hopefully by that time it's given the all clear and i can book holiday on Thursday! Need to be out of here by the 24th!!! Been waiting 5 weeks now :(

Really lucky aswell as she wasn't due back at work until monday but had popped in today to sort something out. Phew!

Finally got in touch with my MP! She's on it right now! Going to phone Belfast direct office tomorrow at 8 sharp and see what they can do!

Indie.... there are plenty of applications in the office waiting to be dealt with - believe me, screaming down the phone at a stressed, overworked and underpaid examiner willl NOT make them want to help you, and will send yours to the bottom of the mountainous backlog! LOL

Hairbrush..... I bet your MP has nothing better to do with her time!

After seeing this thread I decided to send my DS passport renewal away as we're away 1st week in August and I wanted to ensure there was enough time. I would have been happy to wait until mid July so others weren't waiting until the day before travelling and paying for an upgrade.
I sent my DS renewal off on 18th May, received at Peterborough 19th and passport received today.
Please don't think I'm boasting or being smug but I wondered if there is any way you can influence where your application is sent?
Good luck to those of you still waiting.

There are many factors contributing to delays in processing applications, which include

austerity measures ( office closures and less staff doing the job), more people coming to the UK and becoming entitled to an British passport ( still wanna stay in the EU?!),

more indepth security checks required to respond to rising threat and instance of criminality, ID theft, and ( potentially) terrorist activity. Rising numbers of MP intervention, taking staff away from the business of getting passports issued (!!)

Also, giving timescales on here is ( sadly) a little misleading. There are so many anomalies with applications and different types of applications which render it difficult to predict how many days a passport will take to be received.

Hi straight I don't profess to know as much as you up but having read through the thread it appeared Durham was the issue. Therefore wasn't sure if getting the application sent elsewhere would spread the load a little more evenly.

Each regional office processing applications is assigned a catchment area .... and even so, if one office is experiencing greater volumes than others, the work is transferred between offices. You CANNOT dictate where your application goes

Straightforwarda obviously I'm just kidding. Was just written in the heat of the moment!!!

no worries RVP ... hope this clarifies things a little

no probs indie ... sorry. Just had a day today of being shouted at by irate customer :( Am drained

I do understand there's a lot of pressure at the moment. I'm just finding this all very stressful as we've been waiting 5 weeks now and they've only just contacted countersignatory.

Quick question...hope you can answer of possible as 0300 advisors can't seem to give an answer.

My countersignatory was sent a letter which she received today saying they want a letter confirming she knows us. Does that mean the application is now with examiner and once they get letter they will print passport?

Getting really worried as we plan to fly in 2 weeks.

There is a massive backlog, and applications are dealt with in order that they arrive in the office.
Indie.. your application is with an examiner. As long as there are no other outstanding issues .... ie. missing docs, incomplete form, missing fee etc, then once the reply is received (make sure countersig uses pre-paid label suppled with letter) then the passport will be issued

Ok thanks so much.. that's a relief. I'm hoping if examiner wanted anything else extra they would have sent it same time they sent countersignatory a letter . I havent received anything and durham only said that something was sent to countersig. I'm not sure if she used the envelope enclosed ...I'm guessing and hoping she she probably did as that would make sense and I didn't advise that she use her own envelope or anything. She said she'd send it back by end of the day so I'm hoping by this time next week it's at least being prepared to be printed