Hi Bunter,
Sorry to hear of your problems with the passport office but you seem to be approaching this from the wrong angle. Last year we had to renew both our passports, at the cost of the National debt of a small African country. Seven days after sending the passports to Ireland, we received a phone call from an  uncivil servant stating he was unable to renew the passport of my wife as on her photo she was smiling. At this point I insisted on speaking to his boss stating as my wife reminds me, being married to me for many decades I have never given her any reason to smile. As promised his boss phoned me back and stated the problem was the smile. I informed her if this was the case why ten years earlier had they issued her with a passport because on that she not only looked like she was smiling but laughing hysterically as I had just been rushed into hospital when this photo was taken. After a few ums and arrs she agreed that after speaking to me for nearly an hour now, she would issue the passport and it arrived a few days later. If you are not paying for the phone call, always insist on speaking to the boss informing them that you have tea and sandwiches by the side of the phone and have no intentions of finishing the call till the matter is resolved.
Yours the problem solving Bulldog.