Is there any way a courier delivery driver can mis-scan the delivery time and date?

Annemos

Good morning all. 

My passport renewal has gone missing. It was sent from HMPO on August 2nd.

On the tracking details there is "a package" that was scanned and delivered at 1am to 2am  in the morning, six days before my package was even sent to the Courier firm. (And a photo of a door that is not mine. July 27th, 2023)

There is currently an investigation underway by HMPO.

But I just asked the courier firm, if they now know what has happened at Call Centre. He thinks the passport was delivered to a wrong address and has now been returned to HMPO. (There is now a scan 2 days ago August 9th, saying "arrived at Delivery station" which apparently means that something was sent back.)

I can understand that mistakes happen sometimes. (Always to me!) But why would those scans be showing a delivery made 6 days earlier??? Before my own passport was even in process. Or was that scanning providing completely false data? 

Does anyone who knows about Courier Delivery scans have any idea?? 

(No time limit for the investigation by HMPO!! Patience is a virtue, they say!) 

RumRat

Normally they scan it at your door, the tracking info is then available within minutes (sometimes seconds). 
In theory they can't make a mistake as the same barcode is tracked from source to delivery.
Who delivers at 1am even to the wrong address? That in itself is suspicious.

Annemos

Thank you for the reply.

Totally agree RumRat. Of course, HMPO and TNT are all glossing over this. And each blaming the other. 

I did a Google search. People who are very good at IT, can get into the source delivery code and analyse it. Apparently it gives the exact GPS positioning of where each scan was. The two people did it for both their packages when they had been on a long tour before delivery. They could analyse exactly what the Couriers had been doing with the parcels. 

DullGreyGuy

Sometimes barcodes etc are smudged and cannot be read and so the person has to manually enter the code. It's always possible for the courier to miskey the number. 

There was a missing parcel case on here a couple of months ago where it was shown as delivered in the morning, then shown as rejected by the recipient a couple of hours later and finally 5 months later shown as delivered. The courier in that case confirm the tracking 5 months later was a miskey by their staff. 

If its early it would seem surprising that the system wouldnt reject it as a consignment that doesn't exist but given volumes HMPO sends maybe they've got a load of pre-created values?

Personally have also had a parcel collected and the chap used the wrong setting on his machine so it instantly pinged on my phone saying my parcel had been delivered. He then corrected and rescanned and the next track was that the parcel had been collected 2 minutes later.  It can therefore explain the wrong type of scan being done at 1am but does mean 2 separate cockups at the same time.

Annemos

I think somebody's using it to get their Granny in! In fact, I look so old on that photo...make it Great Granny! 

Pescur

If you go to Trustpilot for the specific company you will see what they get up to.  It is not uncommon for certain couriers to steal items and passports are sought after. 

Best advice is to get a video doorbell because you can make a video if you scrolling through the timeline and no person showing up on the day in question.

I recently ordered something from eBay, I got an email saying it had been delivered by EVRI but it had not, they gave me a full refund because the GPS of the vehicle showed he delivered it somewhere else and the photo was of a different place too, it also had GPS.  It looked like he took a photo of it in the communal area of some flats but as I explained to the seller, the risk remains with the seller until put into the hands of the customer, the usual evidence is that they photo the door open and the legs of the customer.  Leaving it on a porch or doorstep does not count legally.

I heard a similar case to yours on local radio, they were able to arrange a pickup at a regional passport office.

 

Annemos

Thank you for replies. Yes, I have put a very ratty review on TP, myself, regarding this incident!

The latest thing  I have been told is that "something" has been returned to Peterborough HMPO. 

(I have lost all trust in this system. For 8 days I was telling them something has gone wrong. They sent me away every day, before anybody took any action. So I am not sure I believe this. It could be just a dummy entry to close out a wrong delivery tracking number. Eg if they had given it to 2 different people?)

I do not have a car and I am very far from Peterborough. So if it is there or they do a re-issue, then they would have to arrange another delivery for me. 

But what I am also very worried about now... there has been a Data Breach potentially. Will HMPO own up to that, if the passport has ben missing for days or has been held by somebody else for days? Or will they try to cover it up? 

(This HMPO is a private company that does all the work for HMPO. It is sheer hell trying to get through their systems and bots. This is why I am so lacking in trust.)

I called into the Police Office in town yesterday. They do not deal with things like this, as currently, although the passport went missing, there has not been any crime committed. Only if some crime is committed using the lost passport, could one file a Police Report.