I am still waiting to hear from Durham, I called passport office today and he reassured me that if I have sent the email that I am in the queue and it will get done and not to worry.
Just for a bit of reassurance a work colleague in a similar position flys on Monday 2nd, only process her upgrade request Mon 25th, got automatic email back wed 27th and then got a call today 28th to say the passport would be delivered Saturday! So I have everything crossed for everyone and we need to trust in the process