Originally Posted by
1trainer1
I tried to ring the consulate but it was a machine recording just repaeting what was said on the website at a cost of £1.50 per min, im going to speak to my local passport office
You're being paranoid.
According to both Wikipedia and a friend who's a citizen of the UK, machine-readable passports have been issued in the UK since ~1988. Your passport undoubtedly has the lines at the bottom required for the US Visa Waiver Program. Basically, the program will not accept a hand-written passport like my wife holds. Such passports are generally issued by local consular offices whenever a replacement needs to be provided and the person seeking it can't travel back to their home country in the time available before the passport is needed.
Your passport will be fine. Welcome, in advance, to the US!
^