Application after lost passport – travelling in a week!

[vannylu]

I mislaid my passport, reported it as lost and made a new application which is showing as received on 27 June. I already had a trip booked for 11 August. I called the passport office last Thursday, 28 July, hoping that my application could be sped through as it was then 2 weeks before my travel date but was told that it can’t be escalated until Monday 8th as that is the date that it will have been on their system for 6 weeks. The lady recorded my lost passport code against the application so I was hoping in some way that might start things rolling but nothing since and I really don’t know what to do. I can’t get hold of Eurostar to see if I can delay the trip (although their website says it can’t can’t be changed anyway). Does anyone have advice as to whether this is a lost cause or is there anything that I could do?

[georgiou32]

Hello, i am in the exact same boat as you, apart from i travel on the 12th august. my application has been stuck on “received” since 14/06/2022. I email upgrade team a week ago. not heard anything, have constantly emailed different departments and called different departments with no luck and everyone saying the same thing.

interesting you mentioned about the 8th august, they never said anything like that to me. My documents are in Durham apparently, however i might go to liverpool tomorrow to see if i have any luck showing up to a passport office. running out of ideas. We just need an answer and i find it crazy out of all the departments, no one can provide one!

very stressed. hope you get it sorted 🙂

[vannylu]

I spoke to someone again today and she confirmed that it can’t be escalated until it has been on the system for 6 weeks so I can ring Monday and try but I cannot see how it would have any chance of getting to me. She said it would need to be upgraded and completed Monday and I would be behind cases of medical emergencies etc which get high priority. Also have to pay £100+ upgrade fee!
TBH I would happily move the dates of my trip but Eurostar have adopted a policy of ignoring all customer contact so I have no means of finding out if they will do that.
Good luck and would be interested to know if a visit produces anything.

[georgiou32]

Sounds like a right mess! I don’t think anyone is being honest with their answers over the phone. I spoke to someone as well and he said if it gets to wednesday then my upgrade has more than likely been rejected. I also spoke to TUI and they confirmed I would lose out on the holiday and wouldn’t be able to amend the dates.

I have read some Facebook group posts and people have been turning up at their local passport offices 48 hours before travel. They had all possible supporting documents, travel bookings, ID etc and they got seen that day and went home with their passport. But you have to go 24-48hours before travel. I asked whether you can turn up to any office like Liverpool despite your application being assigned to somewhere else such as Durham. they all said their details were with Durham but they went Liverpool and they called Durham office and got it all sorted on the day.

So my advice would be to go Tuesday to wherever is closes to you with everything and don’t leave until they give your passport lol.

[Stolenpassport2022]

I’ve tried creating a new topic with my experience today but it’s not showing yet (maybe because I am a new user) so I’m copying it below. Good luck with your applications!

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I wanted to share my experience with others, as this site has been so useful. There’s a summary below with more detail following.

Summary of advice for turning up at a passport office:
1. You must be travelling within the next 48 hours – no exceptions unless it’s a Sunday/bank holiday and then you can go on the Friday
2. You must have proof of pre-booked travel before you put in your passport application
3. You must have had your application in for at least 6 weeks – unless you have a severely ill close relative, or in my case, that my passport was stolen
4. You must provide proof of everything you tell them about your mitigating circumstances and travel bookings
5. I would recommend going 48 hours before your travel as there is a risk that you may not be able to get your passport printed the same day. Doing this gives you one extra day to come back and collect it if necessary
6. Come prepared for a long day standing in a queue with battery packs, water, food, layers of clothing, sun glasses, hats, something to sit on, etc.

Detail below of my case:

I had a valid passport (did my renewal at Christmas 2021 and end to end it took three working days from me submitting my application to getting the passport delivered to my home) but unfortunately it was stolen at the beginning of July.

I made a new application as soon as my passport was stolen but was travelling three weeks later on a holiday I had booked in November 2021. There were no fast track applications available so I had to apply via the standard route. All the phone calls I made gave me the same advice – I would have to wait at least six weeks before they would upgrading me to the fast track service.

Some of the staff on the phone lines (particularly the initial ones you speak to before they transfer you to someone else) were rude or unhelpful – I think these are all the ones working for a private company and are basically there to fob you off. On the occasions where I was lucky enough to convince someone to put me through to HMPO staff who knew what they were talking about, the staff were much more understanding and helpful, but they didn’t know how to advise me on a stolen passport.

After reading the information on here, I decided to give it one last shot and went to my nearest passport office (Liverpool) on the Wednesday before my Friday travel plans. I arrived at 0615 and queued outside with other people. The staff managing the queue were very helpful but also keen to manage people’s expectations and were fairly no-nonsense. We were told that they would only see people who were travelling within 48 hours AND had had an application in >6 weeks.

The staff implemented a triage system in the queue, dividing us into people travelling that day (day 0), day 1, and day 2. A lot of people were sent away at this point. They then came and spoke to us about our situations. A lot more people were turned away at this point too as they were very strict about the 6 week rule. They told us a story of how a mother of the bride had come the week before after forgetting to renew her passport for a wedding booked abroad last year – but because it was less than six weeks since she had applied, they would not upgrade her.

There were some devastated people there but they would not budge on this. Basically if someone has forgotten to apply early enough, even if there are kids in tears, they will not fast track you. The only reason they said they would accept was a very close family member who was severely ill/dying – and for this they wanted proof. There was a lady in tears explaining she had an ill family memeber but they would not let her in as she didn’t have proof.

Although I could see all this going on ahead of me I stayed in the queue and was told that because my passport was stolen, a manager would need to decide whether they could waive the 6 week rule. They wanted to see the police report, which thankfully I had with me.

All in all, I waited until about 1330 outside the building until I got to the front. At this point they checked the PEX number and application date, and my documents (proof of pre-booked travel and police report). There was a discussion between staff at this point with people going in and out to check things but after a few minutes I was allowed in.

I then had to wait again for about half an hour to see an advisor, who checked all my documents and again had to check whether I was entitled to be upgraded due to the theft of my passport. Thankfully they did agree to process my application and I paid the upgrade fee of £101.

My application was being held in Peterborough but they liaised with that office to process it. The passports take up to four hours to print due to all the security features, so it was not certain I would get my passport that day. I spent the rest of the day enjoying Liverpool.

About an hour later I got the text message to say my passport had been approved, and then about 3-4 hours later a message to say it was ready for collection. I returned to the office and collected it at about 1700, so I was close to having to return the next day to collect it.

If you are going to try this, make sure you come prepared. Bring plenty of food, water, battery packs, etc. Make friends with people in the queue and you can hold your spaces for each other for when you need to go to the toilet, etc. Wear sensible clothing and bring layers, including sun glasses, protection, etc. We had lots of different weather conditions while I was there and some people were not prepared for the weather and were very uncomfortable. Also consider brining something to sit on unless you are prepared to stand in one spot for most of the day.

[vannylu]

Well I am in shock! I called Monday morning to expedite my application (as that was the earliest I was able to do when it had been in the system 6 weeks). Emailed my evidence in that morning and got a call at midday today to arrange collection of my passport from the passport office tomorrow! Obvs not in my hand yet but the light is at the end of the tunnel!
I would recommend to anyone that when you send your evidence in to include that you would be able to collect from whichever office is nearest to you if you want to avoid extra stress of possible postage delays.

[vannylu]

And I would also like to add that I actually found their customer service very good. The system may be breaking but the staff were always as helpful as I felt they could be, the phone was always answered quickly (under 5 minutes) and I got call backs when they said I would.

Eurostar on the other hand I’m still waiting for a response after 4 weeks and numerous submissions on their contact form and tweets (no phone contact possible).

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