I thought I would just update you following the last post. I received a call from a lovely lady called Jacqueline in the Durham office on Monday to say that my passport would be with me by the end of the week - she told me there was no need to upgrade as it was ready for printing and I would be wasting my money. I was still not sure as I received an e mail from the tracking team yesterday telling me that I could upgrade if I wanted to so was going to call again today. However, true to her word, my passport arrived today two weeks before I travel. I know how lucky I am but I wasn't taking any chances and just in case you find it helpful here's what I did:
-Passport sent via check and send at the PO on 27 May
- Received text saying it had been received 30 May and would be processed within three weeks
- read newspaper and was horrified to hear of backlog & phoned 0300 number on 11/06. Told by a chap called Kurt that nothing could be done until the three week period has elapsed (this proved to be untrue in fact)
- 11/06 e mailed the Email Enquiry Line, nothing heard until yesterday
-12/06 contacted my local (Tory) MP by e mail - had e mail straight back asking for name address and DOB as they were referring to an "MPs hotline"
-13/06 rang 0300 number again, spoke to someone called Amy who told me that I couldn't upgrade to premium as I had used the PO Check and Send. This proved to be untrue but she was very helpful & did take my contact details and said I'd get a call back within 48 hours & filled out an 'escalation form'
13/06 another phone call to 0300 and a call back request and an online e mail tracker request. I e mailed Theresa May on Friday 13th June and copied in my MP. This is what I think led to action. Within 48 hours - so on Monday morning I had a call from a chap in Durham saying that I could expect a call from the Upgrade team within 48 hours. Then an hour or so later jacqueline from the Durham Office called me to say that my passport would be with me by the end of this week - it had been processed and would take 48 hours to print and 48 hours to courier. It arrived this morning
I travel in two weeks time. Either the intervention from the MP/ Home Sec worked or the backlog is clearing. I found this thread very useful so thank you and hope you all get your passports in time.
If you are waiting for a call back to upgrade you might be interested to know that the email I had from HMPO yesterday said that you could pay this in person in any passport office.