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Hi all,
A bit of advice please?
My husband and I had our personal belongings stolen in the US on holiday on 27 April – passports included. We travelled back on emergency travel docs (which was a nightmare to sort at the UK consulate in the US) as soon as we came back we applied for replacement passports as we had pre booked travel (Nov 2021) to the US again to scatter my father’s ashes on 2 June
Appreciate a lot of people have been stuck in the system and we only applied on 4th May, however for us, this feels like an exceptional circumstance. I can’t not be there to scatter my father’s ashes – it would absolutely destroy me. It was traumatising witnessing our rental car being broken into (whilst we were in the car!) and our bags being taken in San Francisco and then coming to the heart sinking realisation that our passports were also taken knowing the trip we had planned with the rest of my family to lay my father to rest.
We travel on 2 June, I have emailed all upgrade teams out of desperation, put in a request to upgrade to an emergency application, called endlessly but we’re getting nowhere.
Should I turn up to Newport begging for help? Does anyone have any thoughts on what I can do at this stage. I’ve not been sleeping and I know it’s daft to feel this way over passports, but I’ve never felt so defeated and upset.
Any help/advice will be truly welcomed
Thanks
It’s the strangest thing that we have gone through the exact same scenario and find ourselves here with the exact same username!
My husband and I also had our passports stolen, although this was on holiday and we have another trip planned that departs on 2 June. I have no idea if we will get a call back for an upgrade. It sounds like others are waiting until 48 hours before departure before they are called to collect their passports.
Have you had any luck since?
@kel85 Completely agree – you can tell they are working from home (which I have no issue with) but they clearly are not reading from the same rule book and are saying anything to anyone and incorrectly advising us. It seems like the lack of supervision and interaction with a team around them is negatively affecting the service we are getting. If they had some colleagues to discuss/bounce thoughts off of, I am sure we would all have a v.different experience! I am trying to be patient and empathetic with them as appreciate they are overwhelmed and stretched but they aren’t being empathetic with us and I am close to losing it!…
Does it actually work to turn up to the passport office? I have been contemplating this but worried I would be turned away and undertake the walk of shame although at this stage, not sure if I really care either.
@Leesa160 – Oh no, I really hope you get some positive news. Do keep us posted. I am thinking of you and your family and hope you can travel in time.
you can definitely fast track regardless of your situation! The helpline staff are clearly recruited to screen calls and put people forward for call backs. It’s not helpful but what I know for sure is that you are eligible to fast track as long as you are within 14 days of your departure date. I don’t believe we have the option of the same day service (premium) but we definitely do for the fast track.
I think this entire forum has more knowledge than the helpline. Good luck, all!
Hi @Fran98 – thank you.
Somebody posted the following earlier:
‘PeterboroughUpgradeTeam@hmpo.gov.uk – Just change the name of the office you want to send it to… mark it URGENT with flight date. Add you ref numbers, phone number and a pdf attachment of your booking… good luck x’
Fingers crossed you have some luck.
Does anyone know if the upgrade team can start the fast track before payment, or after payment. It’s the payment issue that is worrying me now. Never been so desperate to spend before! Even my husband is willing to give me his debit card and that’s a rare thing! ha
Also, we were advised to submit a comprehensive cover letter with what happened to us including documents. We did exactly that only to be told we have compromised our position and should not have sent any documents at all as our passports were stolen. My advice to anyone in this boat (now or in the future) do not send any docs for a stolen passport, just submit your application because we have been told, repeatedly that ‘we have compromised our position’ to have an upgrade as they need to scan our documents and then deal with our application and time is not on our side. Our thoughts – they can ignore the documents as they are irrelevant. After speaking to some other members of staff on the helpline they said they can process without the assessing the docs but this took a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. Hopefully this helps someone.
We are travelling on 2 June and literally are stuck in limbo. Passports were stolen on holiday. Came back to the UK on 2 May, applied for replacements on 4 May. Have emailed the upgrade team with the email address someone kindly posted this morning. I’ve received an auto acknowledgment but now desperately on the hold to try and get someone to take payment for a fast track because we are meant to depart 2 weeks today and I’m afraid they will ignore us as that is all we have experienced so far!
Does anyone know the reality of fast tracking at the moment?
Sending virtual hugs to everyone in the same boat
