TNT Passport Delivery
Watchdog heard from several customers of TNT, who told us their passports had been delivered to the wrong address.
They told us they had received notification from TNT to say their passports had been delivered to their addresses, but the delivery photos taken by TNT couriers showing the door that the passports had been delivered to, were not of the customers’ doors.
Some had turned to social media to try and find their passports, by posting the photo that the TNT courier had taken to ask if anyone recognised the door.
One of these customers was Liam, who applied for his new passport in February 2023. In May, having still not received it, he began to chase His Majesty’s Passport Office.
Liam’s mother, Julie, got involved to try and resolve the issue, and in doing so – she found that Liam’s passport had been delivered on 1st March 2023. TNT had, however, delivered it to a different address.
With only the photo of the door that Liam’s passport had been delivered to, the family posted it on social media, and managed to find the correct house. The owner of the house said they had not received Liam’s passport either.
Because the passport had been delivered to the wrong address, Liam missed a holiday, and just before travelling again, he had to collect a new passport at the nearest Passport Office.
Watchdog heard from several other customers in similar situations. Tomasz told us his daughter’s passport had been delivered to the wrong address with the same house number. Stewart told us his passport had been delivered to the wrong address. Susan told us her mother’s passport had been delivered to an empty building within the storage area.
Watchdog also heard from Arun Chauhan, a lawyer who specialises in fraud, who told us the risks involved if a passport is obtained by a fraudster.
He told us that he believes passport delivery should be tracked and signed for. Otherwise, if in the wrong hands, a fraudster could use a passport to set up bank accounts or take out loans in the victim’s name, and this is difficult for the victim to disprove.
A spokesperson from FedEx, which owns TNT, told Watchdog:
“We pride ourselves on delivering outstanding service and apologise to the customers for any inconvenience or distress caused. We are fully aware of the importance and sensitivity of the documents we handle on behalf of His Majesty's Passport Office (HM Passport Office). Any instances of mis-delivery are taken extremely seriously, and we follow a rigorous and formal investigation process agreed with HM Passport Office to resolve these.
“For all passport deliveries, we do not require a signature. The item can be posted unless it has one of the specific exclusions. You can find the list of exclusions on our website:
“To provide the secure delivery service required by HM Passport Office, we deliver the items through our dedicated HM Passport Office network which is siloed and run separately to our main TNT network. Since March 2, 2020, we have delivered over 23.4 million items for HM Passport Office. We have operated successfully within the service level requirements agreed with HM Passport Office and we continue to stay focused on providing a reliable service for our customers.’’
A spokesperson from His Majesty’s Passport Office told Watchdog:
“While these instances of mis-delivery represent a tiny proportion of the more than four million passports issued so far this year, they will be thoroughly investigated to help us improve processes in the future.”
