Royal Mail have lost my passport(URGENT HELP!!)

faidhfeisal · Post by **faidhfeisal** » 21 Nov 2018, 14:06

Hello,

I had a passport document returned via special delivery by the home office on October 21st,

I was NOT left a calling card or given any indication that this document was been delivered then.

After 1 month of trying to get in contact with the home office I managed to get the tracking number, to my horro not only have royal mail not tried to redeliver this item the next day they have just kept it at the post office without notifying me.

It was there for over 18 days, they have sent this back to the home office according to the tracking information.

Home office today confirmed still haven't received the item.

I have an urgent family ceremony i need to get to in 2 weeks i NEED MY PASSPORT.

It appears it is lost in post :(

I'm ridiculously disappointed at how careless delivery man was by not leaving a card and the home office for not giving a tracking number.

Please can someone help me urgently with getting in contact with the identity team at royal mail if possible.

I can't get through customer service i have been on hold for more than 8 hours.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

NewPostieUK · Post by **NewPostieUK** » 21 Nov 2018, 18:14

In a lot of cases like this, a card was left but was mixed in with leaflets and other mail, and thrown out.

faidhfeisal · Post by **faidhfeisal** » 21 Nov 2018, 18:28

I have checked this everywhere. It wasn't left. I'm asking for solutions right now.

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 21 Nov 2018, 19:18

faidhfeisal wrote:I had a passport document returned via special delivery by the home office on October 21st,

I was NOT left a calling card or given any indication that this document was been delivered then.

After 1 month of trying to get in contact with the home office I managed to get the tracking number, to my horro not only have royal mail not tried to redeliver this item the next day they have just kept it at the post office without notifying me.

It was there for over 18 days, they have sent this back to the home office according to the tracking information.

Home office today confirmed still haven't received the item

...

It appears it is lost in post :(

If the packet was sent without a return address, then it would have been sent to the National Returns Centre, where it would join a long queue to be processed. To the layperson, the tracking for this might look like it is lost, when it isn't. Or it might have made it's way back to the Home Office but got lost in their system: again, this could look to the layperson like it was lost, when it isn't. Or it might actually be lost. Your best course of action is different in each of the three cases above. To help us to help you, could you either post the tracking number or copy & paste the tracking information into this thread?

faidhfeisal · Post by **faidhfeisal** » 21 Nov 2018, 19:20

02:19pm
Retention exceeded - Returned to Sender
Bournemouth DO

This was November 15th

faidhfeisal · Post by **faidhfeisal** » 21 Nov 2018, 19:23

Tracking info attached

faidhfeisal · Post by **faidhfeisal** » 21 Nov 2018, 19:31

That is all the info there.
And this :
Service used:

Royal Mail Signed For™

We hold on to items we've not been able to deliver, for 18 days. During this period we didn't receive any redelivery or collection instructions from the intended recipient. So we've returned the item to the sender.
Please contact the sender with any queries.

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 21 Nov 2018, 19:35

This might sound like an odd question, but would it be possible to see the previous entries, back to the beginning? I am trying to establish if it is Special Delivery or if it has, in fact, been sent Signed For. Because SD should have more entries than that after it was returned to sender.

Sorry, my original point about copying and pasting the tracking should have said that the whole chain contains clues about what is going on.

faidhfeisal · Post by **faidhfeisal** » 21 Nov 2018, 19:36

It isn't special delivery. It's signed for. My last comment has that information.

faidhfeisal · Post by **faidhfeisal** » 21 Nov 2018, 19:45

Full script below

Post by **Snaggletooth** » 21 Nov 2018, 20:05

faidhfeisal wrote:It isn't special delivery. It's signed for. My last comment has that information.

Our comments crossed over, i.e. you posted yours while I was writing mine.

It is a problem that it was sent Signed For. Firstly because it is not a tracked service, so we can't see where it is in the system. And secondly because Signed For items that arrive at the Home Office are not usually, er, signed for. This means that there is no way of telling the difference between it being lost and it arriving safely at the Home Office.

When I worked for the Post Office, we always told customers not to use Signed for for sending passports as Signed For is not a secure service. We advised using Special Delivery. However, for many services, the Home Office doesn't use Special Delivery unless the customer sends a pre-paid Special Delivery envelope in with their application.

I wouldn't bother calling Royal Mail about this as their system will not be able to help. The most likely outcome is that the package has returned to the Home Office but has not been processed yet: backlogs in their mail room are common. I would keep bugging the Home Office instead.

Nazrin157 · Post by **Nazrin157** » 29 Dec 2020, 01:43

Royal mail has lost my passport I sent my old passport which has not expired on the 30th November 2020 as a 1st class signed delivery. It is the 29th December and it is still not showing as received. I have completed an online application form and the passport office will not send my new passport until they receive the old one.

simmo11 · Post by **simmo11** » 29 Dec 2020, 09:01

!st class signed for are not tracked, you'd need to make a claim with Royal Mail for the loss of your passport (but in this situation you would receive very little if anything).

I am not sure for certain but I believe the Passport Office would allow you to declare your passport lost (i.e. in the post) - you'd need to sign something to this effect I would imagine.

But in terms of recourse from RM you have very little.

ROYALMAILCHAT