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

Becksmay25 No you should definitely go, I told them at security I had an enquiry then at the enquiry desk they give you a ticket and wait till you can speak to someone. Bear in mind I got there lunch hour and still only had to wait 15min to get called. If it's even for them to tell u what they would on the phone it's so much better to speak to a person face to face plus no being on hold gor hours

Hi Mikeysmum

That's really interesting as the guy I spoke to would not discuss anything without the barcode number, he said it wasn't possible. As I don't have it, I can't find out anything!!! It's mad, because they have my passport as evidence for my daughters and I need it back!!! No other organisation could receive identity documents and then have no way of telling you where they are.

I will try again. Forewarned is forearmed.

Crochetcircle - try again on the Durham number. I never had any problems with the 2 lovely ladies I spoke to. Explained I had mislaid barcode and they just took postcode, sons name and DOB amd my details both times I rang. They won't entertain you on the 0300 number but had no problem at all with Durham, they were happy to help. I panicked after seeing the recent press and my sons renewal hadn't even been looked at last Friday but it was printed Monday and thru my door today. I think if you want to make sure you get it you need to keep badgering them and make sure they are aware of when you need to fly. We go on holiday on the 21st so have over a week to now get excited after potentially being prepared that we might have a problem. The passport application was sent in plenty of time for them to sort it but don't just leave it, you might end up at the back of the queue. Hope you get sorted x

mikeysmum1 thanks I will try this. The power of mumsnet!

morning guys does anyone have direct number for liverpool pp office
been waiting for 2 call backs now total waste of time been on the phone everyday but they no nothing about it (call backs)

does anyone no if you can just turn up at the pp (liverpool) offices and pay for the upgrade

radcliffeguys14 the number is 08456015107 i never managed to get through and ended up going to loverpool but worth a try! Xx

Yay

Yay it came the passport came at 8am!!!! Massssove weight off my shoulders!!

I finally got a call back from Durham and the passport will be delivered before 1pm tomorrow. When my application was sent to the upgrade team I was told I wouldn't get a call back in-till a few days before travel and true to their word they called when they said they would. Once you are with the upgrade team they are working from departure date and do seem to contact you a few days before.

Well, I finally got a response to my online query and it just asked for all my details again! What a joke...

Wibblypiglikesbananas. That happened to me too. I just didn't bother and phoned up the direct line number.

As an applicant from Bermuda, I've been monitoring this page for a few weeks and it's been a life saver in getting us our old but valid passports back in order to travel this weekend. Our son's infant application, which included valid non-UK passports for myself, my wife and our infant son as supporting documents, were sent from Bermuda on March 14th and received in Durham on March 18th. After calling the 300 number many times we found the Durham number here and were able to at least successfully request the return of our valid alternate passports so we could travel. Lucky for us, our 9 month old has an alternate passport to use. However, the situation is absolutely ridiculous. We are beyond 12 weeks of waiting.

Hi first post. We have two first passport child applications at Durham for four weeks now if we needed to upgrade to the 24 hour service does anyone know if I could collect the passports from Newport instead of Durham which is almost 300miles from us.

It's a real shame that the advice line can't give more information, in this day and age you would think that you would be able to track your application on line. Ps waiting for a callback from what I have heard i will be lucky to get it - what a shambles - the advice line should have the info I need ie when are they going to be issue the passports, all they say is it will take 3 to 4 weeks well it's now 4 weeks. I don't think the press is helping the situation much either, having said that they do seem to have spurred the home office into action a bit.

Update
I phoned the Belfast direct office about 45 minutes ago - the man told me that my passport was printed off yesterday and was sent to the courier (forgot to ask was it sent yesterday or today!). He gave me the telephone number for the the courier (the courier is DX, in case you're wondering). So, if my passport isn't there when I get home - I will phone the courier for a tracking number and see when it will be here! I sadly can't phone now as I've used up all my 0845 minutes so I will have to use my landline when I get in!

Wizz123. Try phoning the direct number. As you can tell by this thread, the 0300 is a complete waste of time and energy and should really only be used for to check where your application is located/which office it's at. They give very inconsistent information and also extremely vague. Don't bother using that number at all. I unfortunately do not have the direct number for the Durham office - only Belfast. But I'm sure someone who has will reply to you and tell you

I'm freaking out :( I couldn't find a passport office after trying 4 that would do a check and send service so worrying about time, I just sent the applications away. This was last Saturday (7th of June). I rec a text yesterday to say they had now rec the passports. I have sent away 3 of them in the same envelope. My two daughters and my little brothers 11 month old daughter - first passport, 7 year old daughter - renewal and 12 year old brother - renewal. Now...I never wrote down the application ref number (as to be honest, I didn't knwo I needed to) and I've called the 0300 serveral times since the start of the week as that was when I started hearing about the delays. I was calling to say that I would like to pay additionally to have them upgraded but they were saying they didn't even have them yet and always kept asking for the ref number off each application even though I'd said I didn't have them. I was then rudely told that of I was that worried about the delay then why didn't I go to the post office down in Glasgow (nearest one to me but still a 2.5 hr drive away) and have them fast tracked. 1. Because I didn't realise there was a problem of this scale. 2. Because I didn't have another 180 to cover all 3 applications and 3. Glasgow isn't a 5 minute trip in the car with 3 kids. Logistally, it's not easy to plan a trip like that where we can all manage to go. However hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I contacted my MP this morning and rec a message straight back. They are currently helping people who are travelling on Monday (16th June) with securing their applications. How scary is that?? They have until torrow basically to get out passports to people.
I'll keep posting updates on here but going by what others have said and the info on the news, I'm not holding much hope of making my summer holidays. Good luck to everyone else caught up in this mess :)

A bit of good news from the government for a change
www.gov.uk/government/news/additional-measures-to-meet-high-passport-demand

My passport have been at Durham (I live in bloody Hampshire) for four weeks and have not been touched. I still have six weeks to travel but if any get rejected I will be in the poo my ds2 is disabled and could not sit for the photo correctly so I am worried about his. The woman was not very helpful as to when they will even be assessed. Not sure how this is going to get better anytime soon if they are putting on hold dealing with new applications as at some point these will also be urgent. It does sound positive that people are getting passports at the last minute, but could do without the stress of possibly having six weeks of uncertainty.

Frillygordon - if you phone the direct office's number, they can manually search the passport for you and give you an application number (I think). Which office did it go to?

Wizz - the measures in that article help some people but not all.

We are in the US, waiting for the arrival of my son's first British child passport, but had to send off his American passport (he was born here, DH and I are both British and he is dual national) in order to apply. There doesn't appear to be any category that we fall into, despite being stranded here until we get the American passport back - DS will have to use it to leave. That's my main concern right now as we want to travel over the summer. The actual British passport is almost secondary now - and who knows when that's likely to turn up...

My MP is involved now, and I've written to the BBC and Guardian, but it's ridiculous.

My passport has arrived today! Yay! Happy isn't the word!

Timescale for those who are wondering:

17th of May: applied online for adult renewal and sent by 1st Guaranteed First Class delivery.
22nd of May: was received at Belfast office (checked via application number barcode)
5th of June: phoned the passport office on the 0300 number as they haven't contacted me/text me personally about my application since I've sent it off and they insisted it was going under examination and will be here in 1-2 weeks
5th of June: went online on threads and forums to behold the horror of the major backlogs and the notorious 0300 number!
6th of June: phoned the 0300 again just in case and was told it would be here in a week and was under a week & contacted my MP.
8th of June: Phoned the Belfast direct number (not 0300) telling me that my passport hadn't even been looked at yet! So the woman nicely put it on alert for urgent examination and asked me to phone back on Friday to check on everything. My MP also got back to me telling me it should be here no later than Monday if everything is OK and it's a straightforward renewal.
11th of June: received a text from HM Passport Office saying that my passport is now being printed and will be here within a few working days.
13th of June: phoned Belfast direct and asked about it and he says it was printed yesterday (12th of June) and was sent to the courier for delivery so will be with me soon. The courier is 'DX' so if you know it's been delivered - do not phone the direct number, phone DX number instead if you want your tracking number to track it.
13th of June: received it at 17:12 by courier.

• made a daily progress report on the 0845 number at 9AM sharp (I've never had to wait longer than half an hour for an answer. I usually just asked what's the progress of my passport at this stage and kept reminding them of the date of intended travel)

I travel on the 21st (next Saturday). I got it a week and one day before the date of travel. After, I applied almost 4 weeks ago. I don't think this was cutting it finely - in comparison to some who are driving hundreds of miles the day/night before they're due to fly and sometimes driving straight to the airport after they've collected it + had to pay for an upgrade! So I consider myself quite lucky for getting it ahead of time & didn't have to pay for an upgrade! I think if I didn't have intervention from my MP and my daily progress calls on the 0845 - I honestly think it wouldn't be here on time!
Moral of the story, renew it in quieter seasons/9 months before if you've left it late (like me!). Never putting myself under this unnecessary stress and the possibility of not going on holiday, again! This thread has been invaluable to me and without it, I really doubt I would have got my passport back in time! Good luck to everyone who's still waiting and I hope you all get it in time! Thanks everyone for your help!

Sorry I meant next day guaranteed first class delivery.

Im having a whole load of new problems now, passport sent to wrong place to be printed finally got to right place printed Thursday sent out for delivery before today, except iv spoke to DX and its not on the van for delivery so they can deliver Tuesday (the day we fly) not happy at all, waiting on a manager calling me back , they have got half hour then im calling them again. absolute joke waited in all day yesterday no show and after reading all bad things about DX I had a horrible feeling it wouldn't be today either. Anyone know if they let you collect from depot?

Blondie - google 'DX depot finder' and search the nearest one to you.