Mr C complained that HM Passport Office (HMPO) did not deliver his daughter's passport and failed to accept responsibility for loss, insisting that it was delivered. Mr C wanted HMPO to issue a replacement free of charge and to apologise for the way it dealt with his complaint.
What happened
In summer 2013, Mr C applied to renew his daughter's passport. He used the Post Office 'Check and Send' service and submitted an application to HMPO. HMPO insisted that it had delivered the passport through its secure courier service later that summer and gave the exact time too. Mr C said he was at home that day and time and the passport was not delivered.
When Mr C complained, HMPO failed to see how it was possible that the passport hadn't been delivered. It said he would have to reapply and pay the fee again. It said that the handheld device carried by its couriers indicated the passport had been delivered and a further investigation had not contradicted that. Mr C's MP took up the case but HMPO told him it had conducted a further investigation and monitored the performance of couriers. HMPO was therefore satisfied that the passport had been delivered correctly and so could not authorise a free replacement. As a result, the family did not have a holiday in 2013 and Mr C brought his complaint to us.
What we found
In 2013 HMPO had not kept data showing how many cases there were in each year where it said the item had been delivered but the customer insisted it had not. We found HMPO had not been truthful with Mr C or his MP because it could not properly monitor couriers as it failed to retain appropriate data.
HMPO had also failed to conduct a second investigation as it should have when the delivery remained in dispute. All of this also meant that HMPO failed to communicate effectively with Mr C. HMPO's attitude made Mr and Mrs C feel as though they were being accused of stealing their daughter's passport. On principle they missed their family holiday in 2013 rather than apply and pay again when they had done nothing wrong. Following our investigation HMPO said it was reviewing how it recorded such cases and wanted to generate clearer performance data.
Putting it right
HMPO apologised for its failings and its impact on Mr C and his family, and paid Mr C £500.
HM Passport Office (HMPO)
UK
Apology
Compensation for non-financial loss