Royal Mail Returned my passport to HM Passport Office!!

[claraluh]

Hello Everyone,

We applied for my niece’s British Passport renew. It’s the first time renewing her passport. Everything was going ok, application was approved and documents were returned. They’ve returned the expired passport by TNT and the new one by Royal Mail. Royal Mail tried to deliver the passport on the 15th, nobody was home so we arranged to collect it from the local Post Office. On the 16th Royal Mail said the passport was not there and the driver was trying to deliver it again on that day. Then on the 17th received a message saying the package was being returned to sender as it hasn’t been collected.

We have called HM passport office and the lady just took the details and said they would get in contact in 48hours, which they haven’t.

Does anybody know what we should do now? Is there a number we can call? Or should we wait. The passport has been returned by Royal Mail to the sender on the 17th but until now there’s no updates on either websites.

P.S: We have holidays booked for the 18th July

[vinny]

If they had returned it to sender, then I think they acted too quickly.

We’ll hold items for 18 days. If they’re not redelivered or collected in that time, we’ll return them to the sender.

Recheck with Royal Mail again?

[claraluh]

If they had returned it to sender, then I think they acted too quickly.

We’ll hold items for 18 days. If they’re not redelivered or collected in that time, we’ll return them to the sender.

Recheck with Royal Mail again?

Yes, That’s insane, as they first tried to deliver it on the 15th. Then on the 17th it shows as returned. My sister went there again on Monday 19th and they confirmed it had been returned, which I don’t know why, as we got confirmation of an arrange to collect straight from them by email.

[vinny]

Gosh! Why did they disregard their own more reasonable policy?

[claraluh]

Updates:

So I have contacted HM Passports Office on Monday, and the passport has been returned indeed, they were gonna arrange a redelivery. 5 days have passed and no messages whatsoever, so I decided to call again but this time the agent couldn’t find any information. We have a trip booked for the 18th. In case the passport doesn’t arrive on time, would it be a problem to travel with her other nationality’s passport (which don’t require a visa to the Country we are travelling to) And the expired passport? (both have been received back. Will they ask many questions when returning to the Country? We can show proof of application and that it has been approved and she also has an expired British Passport already which we’ll be taking with us as well.

[meself2]

In order for you to be asked questions at the border, you first need to get to the border.
Do you need a visa on your niece's other passport to go to the UK?
Airlines might not let you board if yes - expired passport will unlikely be counted as a proof.

[claraluh]

Do you need a visa on your niece's other passport to go to the UK?

No, She doesn’t need a visa to travel to UK or Europe with her other passport. She’ll be travelling with her mother who is also settled in the UK.