Home Office Identity and Passport Service

Well, the time has come to renew my passport so, as this office is literally 10m walk from home and as you here such horror stories some summers about the service u thought I would stump up the extra £ XX for the 1 week service
Phones up for an appointment and was surprised to be offered an appointment the next day (Saturday) at 11.45am
Arrived 15m early as recommended. It’s now 11.55 and I’m still sitting waiting, you are given ticket numbers but are called in appointment time order. I have another 3 in front of me so pleased that we have plenty of space, TV, drink and snack machines to keep us amused
12pm and I’ve just been called
To be continued…
Well, after a 15m delay (not to bad really) I was called at 12pm. Went down to see a lovely lady who took my completed form, photos and old passport and started checking. We chatted about holidays and less than a couple of mins later was saying «it’ll be ready next week, just go down to the cashier»
£103 later and I’m walking home 12.10pm
Well done the Home Office… don’t often get to say that!

Appointment booked for 8.45am
Arrive at front entrance at 8.39am
Go through security gate and metal scanner, then get my ticket
Get seen exactly at 8.45am
Raced through the form, then sent to pay
Back on the street at 8.51am
When did British administration get so painless and efficient!
Quick tip, arrive a little ahead of time for your appointment as you have to go through airport security type scanners at the entrance, which can (as we have all probably experienced) be painful — even though I was lucky and went straight to the front.

Having read the previous Unilocal review, I was understandably a little apprehensive about how the experience of getting a new passport using the same day service would turn out.
But in the event, it wasn’t anywhere near as painful as I expected, and I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself in and out in about half an hour. But maybe that’s because they did appear to have addressed a good number of the issues raised previously.
While initially being directed from one holding queue to another felt like it may involve some smoke and mirrors, it all flowed pretty quickly. And fortunately the concern at ultimately ending up in a large waiting room peering at a screen for your number to be called (and wondering just how long that may take), was unfounded.
All in all, it seemed an efficient and smooth service. The staff were friendly and helpful, and I had a very pleasant chat with the lady processing my paperwork.
The trick seems to be that if everyone carefully reads and follows the instructions, and keeps strictly to their allotted appointment time (including not turning up too early), the system should work.

It is strange to give such a low review to a place where everyone was universally helpful and pleasant despite their job of dealing with distressed and stressed people all day, but it is the system they are working with that is the problem.
I think the people who write the system description should have to go through it a few times themselves, along with normal people experiencing it the first time.
The service is to provide short turn around and one day passport issuance and that it does at a surprisingly large cost. So large that at the processing rate I saw, they must be making a handsome profit, but without much attention to the customer.
They threaten to refuse your application if you are more than ten minutes late for your appointment, but don’t want you in the building more than ten minutes before the time on the form, however, it took 13 minutes and 50 seconds for me to make my way through the line for security, and I was 12 minutes early, that is cutting it a bit fine.
Of course once you get in there is another wait, this time about 30 minutes for me, just to be told that my photos, (made according to website parameters) were not acceptable and that I had to spend the £5 on the machine and take another number to wait again.
Very funny moment!!! The photo machine, churning out passport photos good for ten years, had a recorded voice saying, «See you again soon». Maybe it knows something.
The next step after they tried to upsell me to a larger passport, was to go out and wait for four hours in London, not an onerous task, but pointless as it takes about thirty minutes to process and issue a passport.
When I returned to another line that took 15 minutes to get through, the counter insisted on a little blue form being filled out. Notice of this was not seen until you were nearly ready to be called, but we got the thirty or so people organized and shared pens around to avoid a problem that could have been solved with a sign and moving the forms.
The last problem was that there was a machine to check biometrics (see 1984 by Orwell) and if you did not read all the little signs, your passport may not have worked the next time you went to use it. It must be hell on people with restricted vision.
Nice people, seriously broken system that will probably stagger along for years without change.