The Passport Office received my application for my son's renewal passport on the 10th June. We leave for France on the 20th July. Ample time for the stated three weeks to go by. We have provided all requested documents, yet so far no passport has arrived. Ten days left. If his passport doesn't arrive, the holiday is cancelled. I have spoken to more than one of the staff at the office (Liverpool), and not one of them has been able to give me a clear answer. You get a different one every time you call.
His first passport was issued in the Philippines in 2009 by the British Consul. Five years have elapsed since then. We've been abroad with him on numerous occasions. Yet now, with Britain's public services collapsing under a Conservative government, all bets are off.
The motto of the Passport Office is 'Customer Service Excellence'. The individual staff are very polite and no doubt are working hard, but that's not the point. We need his passport. I'll keep you posted.
Tap
Gordon sends - https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/passport_application_delays
Tap - I believe the passport office are under intense pressure due to immense problems caused by large cuts in staffing by this conservative government.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is having a similar problem.
She sent off renewals for her and her daughters passports and a new passport for her 2 year old son at the end of May. They fly on the 22nd July and still no passports yet, even though she paid the extra for fast service.
She too has been fobbed off with different reasons (as is usual when dealing with government offices) by different staff (all very polite apparently) when phoning up to chase them
She now is resigning herself to the fact they won't be going away and will lose her money.
She is trying to assess if the passport office will be liable to compensate them for losses.
Perhaps it's a ploy to to stop people traveling ;)
There's no excuse for this. However, when I was in a hurry overseas I used a "go between" visa company. I'm wary of listing their URL as I'm not advertising but they have a one-day-turnover arrangement with the Passport Office if you pay (it's reasonable) and will DHL you the docs.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how relevant this is given the backlog but they have a back door in.....might be worth a try if you want your hol, Henry.