Passport checks

Just reading in the press that as of the 8th April the 'new' government security clampdown will involve huge queues while passports are checked of those 'LEAVING' the Country.
Er, is this not the wrong way round 

Governments usually do things A@@e about face! 

Hi there,

In the 55 years of travelling in and out of the UK by ship, aeroplane or rail, I have NEVER left (or returned) to this country without having my Passport checked.

It's either another Media scare story rustled up on a day with little or no real news .... 

.... or perhaps it's a response to proposed Government cuts to Border Control personnel which will result in delays. 

I'm all for checking people leaving the country.  It helps stop murderers, rapists, terrorists and other criminals from escaping justice. 
 
Best regards,

Do Border Control actually know what they are doing. My sister regularly flies up from Southampton to Manchester (obviously an internal UK trip). On one such journey she went through security at Manchester as normal, fly back down to Southampton and then at Southampton was asked for her passport. Although a strange request as she had not been anywhere except on the plane, she duly handed over her passport. The officer asked what the purpose of her visit was. 'I live here' my sister replied. The officer came back with 'but your passport says you come from Birmingham' to which my sister replied 'it actually says ''place of birth'' Birmingham, I didn't know I was supposed to stay there'. Passport handed back without further comment.

Who trains these people?

Why on earth would she need to take her passport for an internal flight, the mind boggles.....

Its either a passport or photo I.d to get on any plane. I suppose if she'd used driving licence then the question wouldn't have arisen.

Ok, thanks. I have only ever been on 2 of these flying machines and never again, bloody death traps, all of them.....

Had an awful job trying to find suitable ID to take my 88 year old mother from Gatwick up to Edinburgh on a plane, her passport was 30 years out of date, driving licence 10 years out of date, in the end she used her bus pass as ID. It was the only thing with a recent photograph of her on. 

m8form8 wrote:Had an awful job trying to find suitable ID to take my 88 year old mother from Gatwick up to Edinburgh on a plane, her passport was 30 years out of date, driving licence 10 years out of date, in the end she used her bus pass as ID. It was the only thing with a recent photograph of her on. 

BRILLIANT!!


     

Best regards,

must have been an Airbus?

groundhog wrote:must have been an Airbus?

That is just awful 

....so you would be a PASSenger ?

repoort wrote:....so you would be a PASSenger ?

Even worse 

groundhog wrote:must have been an Airbus?

Or in the case of m8form8, an Heirbus.

OK - getting me coat!

Well I am not Bus-ting a gut here with laughter!   I have to say I have often left the UK and returned with out showing my passport over the years. Not much in the way of passport control on comings and goings in your own boat in Emsworth.   Got asked for my passport in Brittany and discovered I had forgotten it, French Customs was happy enough with my driving licence, but said they would only let me off once.    More requirement in some countries than others for passport to be shown across Europe while sailing around. 

m8form8 wrote:...........

Not much in the way of passport control on comings and goings in your own boat in Emsworth.   ..........

Ha!!  Completely forgot about the sailings to France and Belgium!!

  but ...

.... once got asked for all documentation in Calais by two Gendarmes.

One of the Gendarmes checked out the gear I was carrying and demanded to know why I didn't carry a liferaft ....

.... his mate looked about him and told him why!!

This was the boat we were on ....



.... and it still had all its buoyancy intact!  

Best regards,


PS

For anyone who isn't aware; the boat is a converted 55 man Harding Lifeboat!

Dutto wrote:

For anyone who isn't aware; the boat is a converted 55 man Harding Lifeboat!

 55 man?  bit of a squeeze innit?

Luxury if only 55 on board compared to similar sized craft I have seen with illegal immigrants on-board, life boats are high volume things and very seaworthy although not terribly elegant. Sir Alec Rose had a converted lifeboat before upgrading to a proper yacht. You can sail them downwind, but as he discovered they won't point well under sail. We have one like Dutto's picture at my boat club as a work boat but its adapted to lower 1 ton concrete sinker blocks into the Portsmouth harbour mud. Pretty solid old things.. 

Paulmold wrote:

Dutto wrote:

For anyone who isn't aware; the boat is a converted 55 man Harding Lifeboat!

 55 man?  bit of a squeeze innit?

Hi there,

Believe me, with the 55 people onboard it helps if you are sat with your back to the hull .... 

.... otherwise you get someone else's vomit down the back of your neck!  

I nicknamed her "The Vomit Comet" because although safe as houses she did tend to roll a lot despite having nearly two tons of ballast under the floorboards and apart from myself, my good lady and a few friends everyone else who came onboard for a sail finished up with their heads over the side shouting "Hughie!"

(Personally, I have never experienced sea-sickness or pregnancy; but I understand that they could be uncomfortable experiences!)  

Lifeboats will sail but, without keel-boards, at best only square to the wind.  I mainly used the sail to reduce the rolling and on one occasion managed to bend the telescopic mast so badly that I just gave up on the "sailing" bit altogether.

We sailed/motored her from The Moray Firth to the continent and back on two occasions and lived on her on the French, Dutch, Belgium and German canal and river systems for a couple of years.

Happy Days!! 

Best regards,