DownwardDog
Well-Known Member
I recently renewed my UK passport through the British High Commission in Wellington, NZ. - 330 quid! My Belgian passport cost 65 euros to renew...
UK passport backlog
- Thread starter Jay Park
- Start date
I recently renewed my UK passport through the British High Commission in Wellington, NZ. - 330 quid! My Belgian passport cost 65 euros to renew...
They would have to pay me to take a Belgian passport tbh.
I quite agree - and I thought they'd shelved the privatisation plans. Passport services should not be in the hands of a private company. And one of the jobs of the manager - really any employee - is to stand up to their boss and say, "I'm sorry but I cannot do that with the resources provided." And then tender a resignation if necessary.
Umm... no. You have a single point of failure, not necessarily a bottleneck.
Again, not necessarily. Insufficient capacity is the bottleneck, no matter the number of sites.
No, it doesn't, but it is a manager's job to ensure the presence of sufficient resources (be that staff, printing facilities, whatever) for the task at hand, and if there are not sufficient resources, then the managers have not been doing their jobs. They get the big bucks; they bear the responsibility. The minister bears the ultimate responsibility, of course, which is why I said that she should be grateful there's just been a reshuffle, so she can't be blamed.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
It's now £102 from Dublin (at the time I checked in 2006 it was over 200) - there was a simplification of the way GB overseas passports are issued about a year ago in Ireland, which involved closing the counter service, so all passports renewal applications are now only accepted by post.
https://www.gov.uk/government/world...ce-for-british-passport-holders-in-ireland--2
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
I
As for your other points, if there were more sites there would be more capacity - even at 24 hours a day the Manchester site can only handle a certain number of printings. Let's assume 500, for the sake of argument. If 1000 passport renewals are received every, half of which pay for premium fast tracking, those get done first every day, leaving a backlog of 500 slow track still to do. Extra sites would mean extra capacity, or a dedicated slow track site to reduce the bottleneck. A bottleneck is what you get when you don't have sufficient capacity to handle the throughput.
I think your view of the way managers operate is somewhat naive - my line manager for example is trying to recruit extra staff as we are flat out, but it's HR that are being problematic, he sure as hell isn't going to resign (nor would his manager) over not being able to get extra staff for a year, nor do I expect him to.
As for your other points, if there were more sites there would be more capacity - even at 24 hours a day the Manchester site can only handle a certain number of printings. Let's assume 500, for the sake of argument. If 1000 passport renewals are received every, half of which pay for premium fast tracking, those get done first every day, leaving a backlog of 500 slow track still to do. Extra sites would mean extra capacity, or a dedicated slow track site to reduce the bottleneck. A bottleneck is what you get when you don't have sufficient capacity to handle the throughput.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
When I went in (last monday) their computers were down so the premium customers weren't getting their passports that same day.
Yeah laugh, but that kind of thing ends up costing people big time. Not only in the premium fees in the first case, but often because of some other expensive emergency where they need that passport on the same day and then that flight needs to be changed or cancelled because of the passport office failing to deliver on their service.
And do they compensate you for their systems going down? Do they heck as like.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Correct me if I'm wrong but if your only nationality is British, you can't fly anywhere in or out of the UK without a passport?
Last time I checked Ryanair wouldn't accept drivers licenses as official ID even if you weren't flying out of the UK. You have to have a passport or other official government ID, and a UK drivers license isn't one of those.
Last time I checked Ryanair wouldn't accept drivers licenses as official ID even if you weren't flying out of the UK. You have to have a passport or other official government ID, and a UK drivers license isn't one of those.
Not necessarily. Consider the difference between, in your office, having 3 networked printers in a dedicated print room and having 3 networked printers spread around the building. There's no difference in printing capacity.
I think you can fly within UK with some airlines on a drivers licence (I know you can, I did it a couple of months ago). Probably not outside though although I think you ought to be able to fly within Europe on a drivers licence. Ryanair are strict though and won't accept it.
I need a new passport but it's expensive
Oh no, you can fly within Europe on a national ID card but we don't have those, so it's passport or bust.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
I think you can fly within UK with some airlines on a drivers licence (I know you can, I did it a couple of months ago). Probably not outside though although I think you ought to be able to fly within Europe on a drivers licence. Ryanair are strict though and won't accept it.
I need a new passport but it's expensive
Ryanair are just the worst in every way! Which airline let you use a drivers license?
Easyjet definitely do. Seems from a quick google that BMI and BA do. I can't think of another domestic airline off the top of my head.
friedaweed
Me and me girl named Jane
Just had the teenagers done in 3 weeks at Liverpool check and send. I hear theyz going on strike soon though
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Isn't Belfast the place to go for the quickest same day service for UK passports?
I nearly ended up going to Belfast for my US work visa cos it takes days at the London Embassy to get an appointment.
I nearly ended up going to Belfast for my US work visa cos it takes days at the London Embassy to get an appointment.
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
I'm not talking about having the same capacity split across different sites, I'm talking about adding extra capacity across different sites. Which would be pretty obvious if you'd actually read my posts.
I did. You're making an unwarranted assumption. If all three sites are working flat out, then they can't add capacity.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
No? What would adding an extra two printers do in your 2nd example then?
Are you having some sort of crisis or something?
Are you having some sort of crisis or something?
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
I renewed my passport via Belfast just a few weeks ago - it took exactly a month to come back.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Every other airline operating UK routes except Ryanair.
Which is quite illegal on routes into Scotland and a clear breach of their CAA route license - which makes it quite clear that any airline operating routes wholly within the UK must adhere fully to UK law - Except there seems to be no will to deal with them. Maybe scared they will pull more routes from the more struggling airports Ryanair tend to prefer to fly from?
ddraig
kicking against the pricks...
are you a consultant on outsourcing or a transformation manager by any chance?
8ball
As seen on TikTok
are you a consultant on outsourcing or a transformation manager by any chance?
"Transformation Manager"?
That sounds like a euphemism that I don't want to look up.
8ball
As seen on TikTok
equationgirl
Respect my existence or expect my resistance
I think you're being deliberately obtuse. Where in my post did I say all the sites would be working flat out, for a start?
It's you making the assumption, because nobody else seems to have an issue with my suggestion. Besides, it obviously makes no business sense to keep the same capacity and split it across different sites.
moodygirl86
Active Member
What Tufty79 said.
I'm not usually a panicky type, but at the end of 2012 I had to get my passport renewed as the 10 years had run out. It took only 3 weeks to arrive after I'd filled out the paperwork, so not that long in hindsight - but at the time I was on a temp agency assignment and sod's law dictated that around this time, the job ended. Which meant making a new JSA claim. Which required ID. I got an email from the courier to say when my passport would be arriving, and it was the day before my JSA interview. That's OK, I thought. I can wait in for that. But time runs through the longest day, they say, and oh bloody hell, he literally arrived at the 11th hour! I was really worried about my claim being delayed due to no ID, what if I can't find any work, what if I lose my flat...As I said, I'm usually cooler than that but then when you're literally sitting at home with nothing to do but wait, you do overthink. And because my buzzer doesn't work, I couldn't even play music in case I failed to hear him knocking on the front door. When he arrived, oh man, I think the only time I've been more relieved is when a guy I was going out with woke up from a coma after a drug OD.
But yeah, don't underestimate how much people rely on a passport, even if they can't afford holidays.
I'm not usually a panicky type, but at the end of 2012 I had to get my passport renewed as the 10 years had run out. It took only 3 weeks to arrive after I'd filled out the paperwork, so not that long in hindsight - but at the time I was on a temp agency assignment and sod's law dictated that around this time, the job ended. Which meant making a new JSA claim. Which required ID. I got an email from the courier to say when my passport would be arriving, and it was the day before my JSA interview. That's OK, I thought. I can wait in for that. But time runs through the longest day, they say, and oh bloody hell, he literally arrived at the 11th hour! I was really worried about my claim being delayed due to no ID, what if I can't find any work, what if I lose my flat...As I said, I'm usually cooler than that but then when you're literally sitting at home with nothing to do but wait, you do overthink. And because my buzzer doesn't work, I couldn't even play music in case I failed to hear him knocking on the front door. When he arrived, oh man, I think the only time I've been more relieved is when a guy I was going out with woke up from a coma after a drug OD.
But yeah, don't underestimate how much people rely on a passport, even if they can't afford holidays.
DotCommunist
So many particulars. So many questions.
Peterborough also do a sameday service
Durham used to
Pickman's model
sunset spires and twilight woods
and while you were waiting you could visit the cathedral. or a pub.
I visited a pub
Similar threads
