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

Yes people do need to complain because yes it's a busy period so at busy times they should employ more staff so they don't have a backlog. I'm so angry with them, all I keep being told is that the passport with the inspector.

Hi everyone,

I'm so glad I've found this thread (wish I'd looked earlier though!). I'm in the same situation, we travel 6am Saturday morning and still no renewal passport for my youngest.
I am so stressed, to be fair we left it late but they had the renewal form for a week before it was even classed as being recieved, now it's been sat with the inspector for nearly 3 weeks but again hasn't been passed - or looked at according to whoever I spoke to yesterday.
I'm going to try the other phone numbers today (thanks a lot for those). yesterday I was told point blank no we wouldn't get it but you ladies have given me hope that with a good bit of badgering I might get somewhere.
The form is at Liverpool which by the sounds of it may be slightly better than Durham?
What a blummin awful situation.
Good luck everyone
x

Good luck Curly

Can I just check, I've been on hold (just the recorded message telling me to ring the other line if I haven't got a letter etc. then a few rings) for over half an hour with the 0845 6015107 number. I'm hoping they answer eventually!
The other number 0845 6012058 is just ringing and ringing, no recorded message at all. Is this what some of you have had or is the number no longer in use?
Thanks

Thanks Pesto
x

Just spoke to a lovely lady who has upgraded us. Cost an extra £60.50 but at this point I do not care!

She has said the inspector will ring back to arrange payment and delivery, how long do I leave it before I ring them if they don't ring me?

x

Hi there.
Could you tell me what number you rang that gave you upgrade this morning please? We travel Saturday too and I am so worried :(.
Thanks

So this morning I was told twice by people on 0300 number that my daughters renewal was still being processed and there was no print date yet. My local MP called them for me this morning and I've just had a call from Durham to say it was printed yesterday and will be with me by tomorrow. Could have cried - ok I did! Don't settle for talking to 0300 number - wastes precious time x

@curlybrunette same situation here got upgraded to premium service this am, called up just now to chase to be told as I am travelling Sunday won't get a call back till Thursday or Friday as they work in order of travel date and are still working on passports travelling tomorrow??????

Well I have to say I am so glad I saw this message board as it gave me the vital number (thanks Daryl123) that I needed to contact Durham directly....initially I called the advice line and Was told on the 1st of May that my sons application was well under way and there would be no issue with travel on 23rd May, however on calling the office again after I still hadn't rcvd the passport on Monday I was advised that my sons application hadn't in fact been touched and it was unlikely I'd get the passport back for our date of travel.... As you can imagine I was beside myself with worry, being told to await the 48 hours as they'd 'sent a message to durham'. I eventually stumbled upon this message board on Tuesday morning after having had no sleep and the idea of eating a complete no, no.. I called Durham directly on the 0845 number, spoke to a really helpful guy and then a lovely lady who sent the passport though for upgrade, advised of the £60.50 fee and told me to be patient and rest assured that if it could be done in time, then it would be done... After another sleepless night, banging head and complete loss of appetite I received the long awaited call about an hour ago to say that the application was fine, passed for printing and my husband will be collecting in person tomorrow morning! I have to say that I have never been so stressed about anything like this in my life and the prospect of telling our 6yr old son and 3yr old daughter that we wouldn't be going on holiday was just unbearable and brought me to tears at the thought of having to actually say those words to them..... Luckily, my story has a happy ending and we will have passport in hand tomorrow as I have since had another reassuring call from Durham to confirm 100% that the passport will be waiting for us tomorrow and we will make our holiday on Friday. I have to reassure you guys still waiting that I've spoken to 4 people over in Durham now and I can honestly say each and every one of those people were compassionate and have clearly gone the extra mile to ensure that we were able to travel on Friday.. It's so stressful waiting and wondering and hoping that your passport will be ready and with you in time, but have faith and I think my experience with the Durham passport office direct over the last 24hrs has been nothing but positive... Even though I'm now at least 10lb lighter and may need to educate my body how to absorb food and sleep again.. I got the passport in the end and really against the odds! :)

I'm really pleased you're sorted jaxkidjacqui and wendy. This whole thing has been more stressful then I could ever imagine.

I've waited 4 hours for them to ring me back and arrange the payment of the £60 etc but I can't stand it anymore so once again I'm on hold! I felt really relieved this morning but am stressing again now until I actually hear someone say it's printed.

Jamieg I hope you get your's ok, finger's crossed for you.

We'll have to start a new thread after this telling each other about our lovely holidays that we WILL get on when the passport office finally pull their fingers out!?!?!

When did you send it off? Been waiting 3 weeks for daughters renewal. Tried to get get through to the 0300 about 10 times between 8-9am as their callback service was unavailable and they kept disconnecting me after a few mins on hold...I've now been on callback for almost 2 hours with no response yet. All I want is a progress update argh! Don't want to call any office direct as i have no idea what office it's at

i have been waiting 3 weeks for son's renewal but am having no joy on any number. is anyone having any luck getting through to durham?? am desperado - am flying on 26th.

Hi guys,

Just wondering if any of you knew what would happen if they failed to get the passport out to you in time? Will they continue to process it and get it to you whenever they can?

I have to say although I am still waiting the Durham lady I spoke with was very friendly and is doing her best whilst the 0300 team are a shambles and know nothing, I called today and pretended to be applying for a new passport, I asked for a premium service and said I was travelling in 4 weeks to see what they said and to my surprise was told to apply through post office as they will do it in 3 weeks lol so much fun when I then told them I had applied over 4 weeks ago and still waiting #totalshambles

Hi curly brunette can you let us all know what they say when you get through we are in a similar situation

wendy I agree- veryone at Durham has been lovely

No problem once I called that number and spoke to them I had my passport expressed to me within 24 hours .

I'm glad you got it sorted and I'm please to know I helped you all to have a good trip :-) enjoy

just to up date you all I paid the 60.50 up grade on Tuesday..........my son's passport arrived yesterday morning at 9.30am........soo happy I cried. I can now pack to go I have felt sick to my stomach over it. Th e amount of people having this issue does make me wonder if this 60.50 charge is a big money spinner...........Hope you all jet off to the sun too x

Daffodilly- really pleased for you!! I noticed that you said two of your passports were first ones- were they delayed also? as I ahve already said- I am worried that them needing to contact countersignatory will delay mine. We need the passports for the 30th

Yes two of them were first passports, yet only one was delayed. What confused me was my step daughters passport took 2.5 weeks......her mother was born in Hong Kong and I didn't have any of the information required regarding her grandparents or her mother being naturalized. My son's should have been the straightforward one yet that was the one delayed. Keep trying the numbers given as the 0300 will not get back to you and we have à bank holiday. I hope yours come x

Does anyone know whether you can just turn up at durham if they have your passport without an appointment? Things are getting desperate now :-( first holiday.

I have had exactly the same awful experience as all the other people on here. Sent 3 passports off on 23rd April mine and my sons cam back early last week exactly on the 3 week timeframe, but my Daughters still missing. Tried the pointless 0300 number at least 20 times last week got through but useless info given and all the promised call backs never materialised. Found out that it was in Durham and got the number from mums net, thank god! Durham have been great and finally yesterday got a call to upgrade and we can collect at lunchtime today we travel early hours tomora. I got my MPs office involved, don't know if it made any difference though. Basically facts are they aren't really looking at applications until at least 4 weeks after receipt if you call to chase and upgrade they are working travel date order so wherever possible you need to collect yourself. Number for Durham 0845 6015175 also 01913707070.
If you turn up without an appointment or having already been told you can collect I don't think they can help you, seen several reports on facebook and other mums net streams that they just give you the 0845 number to ring.
This whole situation is a joke MPs office has said we should all complain to HMPO and copy our complaints to our MPs. I also think we should all contact watchdog. This rubbish has been going on for years when you read all the streams.
Best advise don't give up keep phoning everyone but be prepared that it will probably be a eleventh hour resolution.
Good luck!!

I'm in a very similar situation as many. I posted four passports on April 11th, two child renewals and one first child passport. I also sent mine, which was a replacement lost passport with a name change. I was confident the children's ones would arrive but was worried about my own, more complicated one. When mine arrived back within 13 working days, I was relieved.

But the kids ones haven't even been looked at! We are due to travel in the early hours of next Wednesday. As everyone above, I made numerous fruitless calls to the 0300 number, never received call backs etc etc. I got my MP involved last week and he arranged an upgrade at a cost of £181.50! I rang the 0845 number yesterday to ask how it was progressing as I was worried no one had rung for payment yet and unsurprisingly, there was no upgrade on the applications. Not only had everyone of the 20+ people I'd already spoken to LIED to me, but they had also failed to notice DD3 had the wrong DoB on the application despite them asking me to confirm it every time I rang. I'm absolutely fuming!

Anyway, the nice (stressed sounding) lady at Durham has put it forward to upgrades with a note confirming DD3s DoB is as the birth certificate, I had to answer loads of security questions about the application to confirm though. There is no guarantee that the upgrade team will accept the applications so I now have a nervous wait for a phone call.

I'm really worried they won't get done in time with it being bank holiday on Monday. I honestly can't deal with all the stress any more- we booked the holiday as two months ago I had severe pneumonia and double pleurisy. It was meant to be a relaxing break away to help me recover, its turned into an utter farce.

Hi Lisa did you get through oh the 0191 number