professional passport photos rejected

Annabee

My passport needed renewing and I thought I would go to a professional photographer to try and get a half-decent one. (vanity, yes I know ....) Paid about £15 for this and assumed he knew what he was doing.

Just took the form and photos into the Post Office and asked for their 'Check and Send' Service. Shocked to find that according to the woman in the PO the photos are unacceptable. Reason given was that the background was 'white'. I had to pay the fee and she filled out a form saying 'rejected' for me to go back to the photographer and ask him to do it again.

I was annoyed with the photographer and all set to phone him and complain. He is very well known in the area, and been in business for 30+ years, so I was quite suprised that he didn't know what was OK.

But now I have read the rule book you get with the passport application form and it just says the background needs to be plain cream or light-grey. I put a white envelope next to the photos, and they are definitely not white, either off-white or pale cream, so now I am thinking its the PO woman who is wrong.

But one man's cream is another man's white, perhaps? And how picky are the passport office? Anyone have any experience of this?

Mr_Wang

Annabee wrote: »

My passport needed renewing and I thought I would go to a professional photographer to try and get a half-decent one. (vanity, yes I know ....) Paid about £15 for this and assumed he knew what he was doing.

Just took the form and photos into the Post Office and asked for their 'Check and Send' Service. Shocked to find that according to the woman in the PO the photos are unacceptable. Reason given was that the background was 'white'. I had to pay the fee and she filled out a form saying 'rejected' for me to go back to the photographer and ask him to do it again.

I was annoyed with the photographer and all set to phone him and complain. He is very well known in the area, and been in business for 30+ years, so I was quite suprised that he didn't know what was OK.

But now I have read the rule book you get with the passport application form and it just says the background needs to be plain cream or light-grey. I put a white envelope next to the photos, and they are definitely not white, either off-white or pale cream, so now I am thinking its the PO woman who is wrong.

But one man's cream is another man's white, perhaps? And how picky are the passport office? Anyone have any experience of this?

Typical woman on woman exercise of authority.

If you're not in a rush to travel I'd skip check and send and just send it off. Id certainly put my faith in a professional with 30 years experience rather than some power mad working class woman with a vendetta against the world.

claire16c

Id just sent off the form yourself and skip the check and send. Just get someone to proof read it for you first.

bryanb

Did you pay for the PO check? If yes, then it's been checked, so nothing other than photos can be wrong. Just post it.

jhe

bryanb wrote: »

Did you pay for the PO check? If yes, then it's been checked, so nothing other than photos can be wrong. Just post it.

last time i applied for a passport, i took photos to my local post office they were rejected the staff said there were scratches on the photos.
i took them to another post office they were accepted and received the passport a week later

spacey2012

They get annoyed when you dont pay them for photos.
Just put it all in the post.

Bob_the_Saver

I use a 7% grey background for UK passport pics and that's always fine but 7% is quite light, compare the background on yours with the back of the paper they are printed on to see if it really is 'white'. The guidelines say 5-10% grey.


Full guidelines for professionals are here

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/agencies-public-bodies/ips/passports/information-photographers/

callum9999

The Post Office had a go at me continually saying the photos weren't good enough and that the form would be rejected because it was "too tatty" when I used Check and Send (it was for someone else who specifically requested I did it - I wouldn't personally ever use them). I ignored them and told them to send it in anyway and a week later a brand new passport came through the door.

Annabee

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

I use a 7% grey background for UK passport pics and that's always fine but 7% is quite light, compare the background on yours with the back of the paper they are printed on to see if it really is 'white'. The guidelines say 5-10% grey.


Full guidelines for professionals are here

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/agencies-public-bodies/ips/passports/information-photographers/

Thanks for your advice, Bob. I did what you said and compared the back of the paper to the photo background - definitely not white. Are there rules about how dark the cream should be? Because if so, surely the Passport Service would mention it in their rule book?

I am beginning to think the PO clerk was colourblind! Just really annoyed I have had to pay them £8.75.

Annabee

jhe wrote: »

last time i applied for a passport, i took photos to my local post office they were rejected the staff said there were scratches on the photos.
i took them to another post office they were accepted and received the passport a week later

Had you paid the check and send fee to the first Post Office? You didn't have to pay it twice, did you?

jhe

i would be tempted to go back to the post office and complain.
when i went to the second post office which accepted the pictures, i told them they had been rejected by another post office. it was mentioned that if they had been rejected by the passport office and returned to post office number 1 it would not have looked good, the opinion by post office number 2 was they were being over cautious.
luckily i didnt pay the one that rejected them