So to update, we phoned TNT last Monday to be told that as the passport was marked as dispatched after 4pm it would have missed the courier and therefore it had no prospect of coming that day.
My wife and daughter flew at 6.30am on the Tuesday and the passport, after 6 weeks, landed at 8.40am. Incredibly frustrating that after all that time it came down to such fine margins.
What adds to frustration is a friend was in same location at same time and realised early August that their childs passport expired and submitted it and then phoned everyday to push it along due to their urgent need and had it back in 2 weeks!! Whether that actually made any difference or they were just lucky I don’t know, however it tells me that the system is all over the place. The wait should be consistent for all applicants.
They returned home yesterday and we have now booked to all go in October, so just over 7 weeks.