if the NFC chip in my passport was borked – and I came back through the ePassport gates in arrivals – am I going to get dragged off by Border Officers into some white room with flickering lights complete with the faint sound of screaming in the distance, to be cavity searched and have my passport taken off me?

no, you just get put into the “meet a human” queue.

Will I just be told to make my way ASAP to a Passport Office then?

For various reasons, I can’t afford to have it taken off me and have to chase a countersigner and wait for 6 weeks for it.

I take a dim view of humanity, let alone British Bureaucracy.

Don’t think you’re forced to change it. They just look at it and wave you in.

Unless you’ve grown a massive beard and can’t be recognised, you won’t need a counter signature.
Mine was back in under a week.
And yes, you’ll just have to join the regular queue.

So they aren’t all this guy then?

Mine was back in under a week.
And yes, you’ll just have to join the regular queue.

The NFC chip not working is classed as damage as opposed to wear and tear. 😕

Also, who the **** thought it was a good idea to put an NFC chip in a passport?

Mine was broken (to some degree) for about 2 years, it would read on some desks/machines but not others. Never had any issue except a bit longer delay. They didn’t even tell me it was broken until I finally asked.

Tom_W1987 – Member

if the NFC chip in my passport was borked – and I came back through the ePassport gates in arrivals – am I going to get dragged off by Border Officers into some white room with flickering lights complete with the faint sound of screaming in the distance, to be cavity searched and have my passport taken off me?

Short answer = yes. (kind of … they will check you first …)

Because they need to check if you are using a fake passport etc.

In other part of the world the ePassport gate will lock you in.

You try to be clever? You get cavity search. 😀

Alternatively, just speak to a human border officer … calmly.

Will I just be told to make my way ASAP to a Passport Office then?

Yes, you will unless you enjoy cavity search.

For various reasons, I can’t afford to have it taken off me and have to chase a countersigner and wait for 6 weeks for it.

Your problem. Coz everyone gets the same treatment.

I take a dim view of humanity, let alone British Bureaucracy.

It’s the same all over the world with passport … legit or stolen. In other part of the world it is scarier. 😀

/hijack

Mine is broken too.
Do I have to buy a new passport or will they replace it for free?

thekingisdead – Member

/hijack

Mine is broken too.
Do I have to buy a new passport or will they replace it for free?

Unless UK govt is very generous, I have never heard of free replacement passport in any part of the world … 😆

You pay. 😀

I damaged mine, paid and got another 10 years. Back in a week too.

Common issue – Watchdog and one of the other programs covered it recently.
Gov are aware of the failures and the reason why but refuse to acknowledge it.
You pay or go through a normal gate

Tom_W1987 – Member
Also, who the **** thought it was a good idea to put an NFC chip in a passport?

Who cares, I’ll buy them a pint as I get through immigration in a couple of minutes these days.
No chip/broken/unreadable just means off to the humans along with all the other technophobes, hopefully as passports only last 10 years there will be less than the last time I was back in the UK when it was full of old people.

It doesn’t make your passport any less valid, they can pull up the info they need from the terminal I assume.

Tom_W1987 – Member

Will I just be told to make my way ASAP to a Passport Office then?

For various reasons, I can’t afford to have it taken off me and have to chase a countersigner and wait for 6 weeks for it.

I take a dim view of humanity, let alone British Bureaucracy.

To be a wee bit fair, in terms of government institutions I’ve found the passport office (and in general the gov.uk site) to be really excellent. Staffed by humans, pragmatic, good advice, things happen quickly. Thumbs up!

According to this:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/07/nao_epassport_report/

your passport remains a valid travel document even if the NFC chip fails. And apparently you shouldn’t send it back to the passport office if they tell you its broken.

Why not get a 2nd passport if you travel a lot? Very handy for visa applications etc.

You can send your knacked passport off for replacement.

OP, it’s quite common for people to have two current passports especially if they travel for business. A typical situation would be where a visa application is required and there’s no guarantee that it will be processed in a given time frame and you need to travel during that time. Not sure if it’s still the case but if you needed to travel to both Israel and Arab countries then it was common to have a passport for each to avoid problems.

Edit: beaten by gobuchul

There was a newspaper article on this a while back. Seems like the first generation chips were pretty robust, I’ve got 2 passports and both have been fine, but are coming up for renewal. Newer passports seem to be a bit more fragile and prone to failure. Seems you need to treat he newer ones wiht a bit more TLC, so no putting it in your back pocket and siting on it.

I think you need the chip to be working for some countries, the states for example. You should be ok coming back into the UK as they’ll scan the alphanumeric code on the passport and will be accessing the domestic database and not a foreign one. It seems pretty common so you’re. It going to raise any suspicion rocking up wih a broken chip.

Not sure why anyone would expect the government to pay for a replacement. It’s your passport. You’ve broken it. If the dog had eaten it would you expect them to pay?

Not sure why anyone would expect the government to pay for a replacement. It’s your passport. You’ve broken it. If the dog had eaten it would you expect them to pay?

Not fit for purpose?

If I buy (say) some hydraulic brakes and they leak oil onto the pads I would expect the manufacturer to pay for a replacement.

Even if you know it’s broken, (mine is) it’s still worth going into the e-gate. The queue is generally much shorter at that one, and you get bumped to the front of the prole line when it fails.

Not fit for purpose?

And why does that matter? It’s only for for the purpose for which it was designed, so what purpose has it been deigned for? being scanned in a machine (for which they are fit for) or being abused by the owner, for which why are not fit for.

Just take care of it.

Mine was broken (to some degree) for about 2 years,

My old one got a bit shonkey towards the end of the 10 years (it was one of the early NFC ones, with the chip visible in the hard page)

My new passport has been used twice since I got it in June and the NFC chip has failed to be read both times 😕

Meh. I sat on my passport and the chip is now deader than corduroy. Every time, without fail, I get told to use the automatic machines, DESPITE TELLING THEM THAT IT WON’T WORK, before they let me go to the ‘talk to a human’ counter.

It runs out in 2019. I’ll carry on using it till then.

It’s about throughput through the passport queues and quality of checking. Humans get tired so after a long shift checking passports, not all being EU/UK ones so alot more diligent checking needed humans get tired and lazy and prone to errors. Cut down the queue by sending those with the right passports to the automatic machines to process the majority. They’ll prefer for the machine to tell them your passport is not working rather than you, they hear alsorts of stuff and excuses through the course of the day, so they’re not going to listen or believe you. Put it this way, someone with a dodgy passport would prefer to be processed by a human rather than a machine so the line about “my passport doesn’t work in the machines” must be up there in the top three lines from dodgy passport holders or people wih something to hide.

Same as others on here. Old passport worked fine. New one, less than a year old. 50% read rate at best. Always carried in shirt pocket or in bag sandwiched between flat objects. Poor quality.

They’ll investigate your profile, find your STW posts and break out the latex 🙂

dufusdip – Member
They’ll investigate your profile, find your STW posts and break out the latex

… and without the lube … 😆