Why is it stupid to book a holiday just after Xmas, as many people do, when the brochures come out, for a trip in September and then find that when you come apply to renew your passport in May, 4 months before you set off for Gatwick, the Passport Office is in a complete shambles ? If it had been made clear by the Dept, in January, that they were going to *** things up so badly, people may very well have applied sooner. Their advice is that most applications should be turned around in 10 working days.
Have a look at the official website :::
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-passport-office/about
They are still giving the advice that a 99.5% of passports should be issued in 10 working days ! 99.5% is as near to 100% as makes no difference.
Renewing a passport is a simple clerical function and isn't rocket science. It requires clarks, sitting at desks, in an office, to complete the task, hardly a terribly difficult function. But the Passport Office has managed to completely cock this up. I repeat, that up until a few days ago, they were still saying "problem...what problems"