Geoff S Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 My wife and I have just renewed our passports as they were due to expire in June. We used the on-line option and it really is brilliant and worked quickly and without a hitch. We filled in the on line application and uploaded suitable photographs after checking the instructions for how to do it successfully. The photography is the most difficult part. We took them using our old slide projector screen as a plain background. To avoid shadows we used the conservatory to get a good even light. That was last Friday 27 Jan. We posted our old passports recorded delivery on Monday 30th and got our new passports this morning 2nd February, just 6 days after starting the process and only 3 days after posting our old ones. I think that's very good service and deserves praise. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cooper Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 I have just renewed mine too but I did mine in the post. . No hitches or hassles, and the new passport was with me in about five days. They sent the old passport back to me and it arrived about a week after the new one. Excellent service. B.C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kc Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 It should be excellent service considering what they charge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plummet Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Flappit and I have just done ours. We tried to take our own photographs against a plain wall, but we could not avoid glare from our spectacles. We both wear our spectacles all the time, anw we could not get enough light without using flash or getting bad shadows. We decided to bite the bullet and went to a professional photographer for our mug shots. To our surprise he told us to take our specs off. Once we had the photos we tried the on-line renewal process. Flappit had no problems. I however had a struggle. I tried all the mugshots we had, both the professional ones and our own attempts. The upload procedure tries to check the photo is acceptable - and it rejected all of them. We had another goat taking them, without my specs, and eventually managed to get one past the initial recognition systems. It then said that it was failing the next bit of the process. It could not make out the outline of my face. It did, however give me the option to submit it if I thought that there was a good reason for the problems. The one it accepted was the one I thought would be least likely to be accepted. Those who know me will know that I am equipped with a large scruffy white beard. I explained this on the form, paid my money and waited. We had to post our old passports back to them. Interestingly Flappit's and mine had to go to different places. A few days later our new passports arrived, mine a day or two ahead of hers. Our old cancelled passports were returned to us a day or two later, hers before mine. All the way through the process we received emails informing us of the progress of the applications. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Posted by Plummet on 02/02/2017 16:34:12: We had another goat taking them, Amazing what you can train animals to do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy48 Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Hmmm. When my wife renewed her passport earlier this year they sent her old passport back by registered post. her new passport was sent out a couple of days later by ordinary post, and delivered to someone 4 miles away who kindly dropped it in to us. Why couldn't they send the old and the new together and why send the new one just by ordinary post? Ranks with getting my pension every four weeks rather than every calendar month. You have to admire governmental department efficiencies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin McIntosh Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 I`ve just renewed mine too. Used a Tesco photo booth, popped the pics and on line form copy in the post and the new one arrived promptly. Pity it was so obvious to anyone wishing to pinch it in transit that it was a passport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted February 2, 2017 Author Share Posted February 2, 2017 Posted by Andy48 on 02/02/2017 19:02:06: Hmmm. When my wife renewed her passport earlier this year they sent her old passport back by registered post. her new passport was sent out a couple of days later by ordinary post, and delivered to someone 4 miles away who kindly dropped it in to us. Why couldn't they send the old and the new together and why send the new one just by ordinary post? Ranks with getting my pension every four weeks rather than every calendar month. You have to admire governmental department efficiencies. I much prefer 4 weekly payments because that's how my salary was paid for 30 odd years. Much more sensible to use what RR called Accounting Periods (AP) especially as there were 13 every year My wife and I returned our passports in one envelope to the address quoted on the web site once she'd finished her application. I then discovered mine should have been sent to Glasgow rather than Durham but it didn't affect the service. We've still not got the old ones back but that's not a big deal. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamish Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Plummet, as I understood the instructions, glasses are not to be worn for a photo as if you come through the automatic lane at border control, then the camera recognition system wishes to see you eyes. Must admit I found the auto channel no quicker than the human scrutiny, partly as me, like many others, did not read properly the instruction about inserting my passport into the reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Privett Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 I recently did a passport renewal - the hard way... It was the Wednesday before Christmas and we had a family ski trip arranged, departing from LHR at silly-o'clock in the morning on Tuesday 27th December. And then we suddenly thought we'd better check the expiry dates on our passports. And, oops.... my wife's passport had expired in August. Quick panic! Google was pressed into service and yes, you can renew passports in person (for an extra fee) but you need an appointment. OK - let's get an appointment, London is the closest and they have an appointment free on Thursday 29th. Hmm, that's not much use! Where else? Well there's Belfast, Glasgow, Liverpool... Heck, anything a bit closer? How about Newport or Peterborough? And so it was that I set off on Friday 23rd at 6.30am to drive up to Peterborough for a 10:30 appointment. Well I couldn't afford to be late, could I? And so on arrival I had an hour or two to kill in Peterborough on a cold December morning before the appointment - which they'd said would last 30 minutes. The time got closer and I ignored the threatening notice on the door warning people that they MUST NOT join the queue more than 10 minutes before their appointment time. Was 20 minutes early pushing my luck? Getting to the front of the queue I arrived at an airport-style security screening. Turn your phone off, anything metal in the tray, walk through the arch, then a hand-held metal detector and finally I get to the reception desk where they glanced at the form and photos and gave me an Argos-type waiting ticket with the instructions to go and sit 'over there' and keep an eye on the TV screens for my ticket number. I didn't even get as far as the seats when my number was called and I then spend about 4 minutes in the "interview" handing over the form and photos and was instructed to return in four hours to pick up the new passport. The holiday was back 'on'! So what the heck does one do to amuse oneself in Peterborough for 4 hours? Easy, I did something I've never done before and went to view the Shuttleworth Collection. Next time I hope to use the online renewal system. It sounds somewhat more stress and hassle-free, rather less time-consuming and significantly cheaper too! Even if it means missing out on another visit to Old Warden! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tee Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Not a passport ,but my photo driving licence. As I am diabetic I have a medical renewal which can be done online. This was quite simple, but only after jumping through many hoops with using the Post Office to verify who I was (thought it would be the simplest). Had to give full details of my driving licence and passport plus details of which banks I had accounts with and credit cards (not numbers just who and when). When I had answered all the questions the screen did not change or tell me I had completed the checks until in desperation I went back to the Home screen where it told me I had finished!! It took three times longer to get the P.O. to verify me than it took to apply for my licence. Luckily this only has to be done for the first online renewal. John Edited By John Tee on 02/02/2017 21:18:51 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cymaz Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 Mrs Cymaz and I were only talking about passport renewal tonight !! We will get the photos sorted......my avatar will not be good enough Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator Posted February 2, 2017 Share Posted February 2, 2017 No sorry Cymaz, as you say, your avatar will not do! You're smiling in that - not allowed to smile! Otherwise, I'm sure it's fine! BEB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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