Passport persons should lose their jobs!

[uk_vette]

Well, what a load of plonkers,
How the fk can they cause so much disruption to innocent people waiting to go on holiday.
We are losing £1000.

I hope all those who went on strike lose their jobs shower of ste !

Edited by uk_vette on Friday 1st August 12:48

It's spelt lose, not loose

Edited by Mr Will on Friday 1st August 14:18

[DamoLLb]

I've missed something, can you update ?

[uk_vette]

bds

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7520723.stm

[DamoLLb]

I hate to be a st here, but it does say to get your passport done 6 weeks before you leave!

furthermore.....when I did mine a few weeks back, i paid cira 8 quid to have it checked and the passport went to a seperate office who dealt with it- are these on strike too?

[carl_w]

You've left applying for the passports a bit late if 3 days makes a difference.

[AndrewTait]

I got my daughters back yesterday, after 10 days, even with the strike last week.

I used the post office checking service, which means that you get it back quicker.

[ab@]

Someone needs to be more organised.

[ab@]

... and my pet hate.

It's LOSE, 'loose' is a descriptive word for your wife's fanny.

[Swilly]

If all the passport people lose their jobs, who will give you a passport !?

[J-Tuner]

I got mine back a couple of days ago 9 days after submitting it ? I didnt think the strike kicked in yet?

[eightseventhree]

If people don't leave enough time on there passports and lose there cash then its there fault.

A passport should never have less than 6 months on it.

I used to laugh at these folk one the Airport programs that come with either an out of date passport, or none at all and try to blag there way onto the flight.

Then stand there and sg the airline off when they are told no!

[Dover Nige]

Union Secretary said:

...It is disgraceful that long-serving passport staff should receive no pay rise for the fifth year in a row and that efficient hardworking staff should be rewarded with a pay cut in real terms...

This will be the first of many among government employees. :tapsnose:

There have been >2.5% / 0% / >0% wage changes this year and more office closures proposed with the backlogs already existing therefore increasing. The main disruption is due to management not stepping in to cover as they normally do, as strikes in areas such as this will have been planned with considerable notice to managament so that they can make sufficient plans to cover.

Besides, if you need a new passport, isn't it sensible to apply in good time...?

[carl_w]

eightseventhree said:

If people don't leave enough time on there passports and lose there cash then its there fault.!

You mean loose their cash?

[YZF600R]

uk_vette said:

Well, what a load of plonkers,
How the fk can they cause so much disruption to innocent people waiting to go on holiday.
We are loosing £1000.

I hope all those who went on strike loose their jobs shower of ste !

Edited by uk_vette on Friday 1st August 12:48

With all due respect and as others have pointed out, you left it a bit late to get your passports haven't you?!

Besides, whilst I don't really agree with striking generally - I'd be pretty pissed off if I had no pay rise for 5 years, yet some of my colleagues were getting (albeit ste) rises!

[bmw2002]

carl_w said:

eightseventhree said:

If people don't leave enough time on there passports and lose there cash then its there fault.!

You mean loose their cash?

No, he means lose their cash

[carl_w]

bmw2002 said:

No, he means lose their cash

Well I guess it's there fault

[bmw2002]

carl_w said:

bmw2002 said:

No, he means lose their cash

Well I guess it's there fault

Shirley (sic) not

[Sarkmeister]

I really dont get why so many people on this site keep using "loose" instead of "lose". Is it now something people do deliberately for a laugh???

[Pesty]

No pay rise for 5 years with inflation higher than the government admits and standards of living dropping. What do you sugest they do?

Sit there and take it musnt grumble eh know your place working class scum! because people who are so disorganised they cant be arsed to check how long their passports have left and leave a nice safety cushion will get miffed

[pdV6]

AndrewTait said:

I got my daughters back yesterday, after 10 days, even with the strike last week.

I used the post office checking service, which means that you get it back quicker.

Not always.

I needed to get my youngest her 1st passport before heading off to the States earlier this year.
Being organised and careful, I started the process about 8-9 weeks before we were due to go by getting the photos done.

Then, excruciatingly painstakingly carefully filled in the form being super careful about all the writing.
Got a neighbour who's a dentist to counter-sign the photo and form.
Took it all to the PO for check & send, fully expecting to breeze through.

But no.

PO: "Your signature's too close to the edge of the box"
Me: "It's not actually touching the box, though, is it?"
PO: "No, but it's too close; it'll be rejected"
Me: "Is that right? Despite the fact that I've complied with the written instructions to the letter, they'll reject it?"
PO: "Yes"
Me:

So: new form, start all over again.
Get it counter-signed. Again.
Back to the PO, fully expecting to breeze through.

But no.

PO: "These 'W's are too wide; the scanning system will mis-read them - you need to re-write it."
Me: "That's the counter-signature section. I can't re-write that bit."
PO: "Well, you'll have to re-do the form and get the counter-signatory to write more clearly."
Me:

So: Sod the paper forms, lets do it on-line instead.
Fill it all in. Extra specially careful to get it all tickety-boo.
Submit the form.
Wait for the paper copy to arrive.
Get paper copy.
Obtain counter-signature after pre-filling all the data copying from the old form (not supposed to do this but hey - it means the writing will be legible).
Back to PO, fully expecting to breeze through.

But no.

PO: "We can't check this, it was generated on-line".
Me: "Why ever not?"
PO: "It can't possibly be wrong as it was generated on-line".
Me: "Even the counter-signature bit that's hand written and the reason you rejected it last time?"
PO: "Er. Well, we're not allowed to check it."
Me:
Me: "Right, I'll just send it as is then."

Off it goes.
Wait for it, fully expecting to receive the supporting documents and a new passport asap.

But no.

Instead I get a pro-forma rejection letter rejecting the application, citing the reason as errors completing section: "all".



Call the helpline.
Wait
Eventually get through to somebody who seems to know what they're talking about.

Bod: "You've missed out section x" (can't remember which one now)
Me: "I did it on-line, I can't miss anything out because the system won't let me"
Bod: "Oh, when exactly did you fill it in?"
Me: "dd/mm/yy"
Bod: "Ah - there was a bug in the system that day. You need to start again"
Me:

Fill it in by hand yet again.
Get it counter-signed yet again.
Ignore the Post Office this time and send it off.

Eventually passport arrives, with about a week to spare.

In the meantime, my dentist neighbour was going through exactly the same process for his youngest and asked me to counter-sign his applicaion. Now, despite the fact that he (a) completed the entire application in his own handwriting (which, you'll remember, wasn't good enough for mine), (b) did it in blue ink (when the form states black only) (c) got me to counter-sign despite the fact that according to the rules I don't qualify as able to do so and (d) didn't bother to check & send... he got his passport back in about a week and a half. Aaaaaaaaargh!