UK Border Authority orders Heathrow to suppress evidence of massive customs queues

UK Border Authority orders Heathrow to suppress evidence of massive customs queues

boingboing.net

The UK Border Authority has ordered Heathrow Airport's management to stop handing out leaflets apologising for the gigantic customs queues at its terminals and advising them to contact UKBA to complain. UKBA has also ordered the airport to stop passengers from documenting these queues with photographs.

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www.guardian.co.uk

I've always heard the British were very good at queuing up, in a reasonably polite fashion. I can think of a few American airports where if this happened it would be total chaos. TSA wouldn't know what hit them.

From the original article;
UKBA accused of covering up airport delays

Passengers flying into the airport at the weekend reported having to wait for up to three hours before clearing passport control. But after leaflets apologising for the problem were handed out by BAA, which owns Heathrow, the UKBA warned that they were "inappropriate" and that ministers would take "a very dim view".

The airport operator was also told to prevent passengers taking pictures in the arrivals hall, according to the Daily Telegraph, which obtained correspondence from Marc Owen, director of UKBA operations at Heathrow. Pictures of lengthy queues have been posted on Twitter by frustrated travellers.

I don't see why they would want to cover up the massive customs queues, you'd think they'd want to get that information out in the local media as a public service, so people could plan accordingly (such as flying in the off hours).

boingboing.net
(visit the link for the full news article)

Would not want all of the people who will arrive in London for the olympics to be frustrated before they even leave their own country would we?

Imagine the wait when there is 2 times or 3 times the volume of passports to check!

No mention of what the Chunnel customs line is like...

I suppose if I want to see the Olympics I can fly into France and hire a trebuchet to launch me over the channel. But then again I'd probably be shot down by one of your newly-installed rooftop missile batteries.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I will just sit back and watch it on a very large LED TV. From a long, long way overseas immune to that mess!


Good idea about the channel crossing though. need armour.....

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Weird...

The only thing I can think of is security.

If terrorists want to attack something with high body count a 3 hour wait at Hethrow would do it. Also there was a blurb that stated a 600 pound bomb was defused. I'm not sure where it occurred but it linked back to the IRA.

There may have been a credible threat or fear it might become a target..

Just some thoughts...

Oh the day keeps getting better and better. Here is a classic example of the governments agencies slamming the door after the horse has bolted, yet again.

First of all, the people already know that there are massive queues at customs, because there have been news articles on the BBC, Sky News, the papers, and the web. Hushing it up, and preventing people from documenting the situation would have been a lousy thing to do anyway, but doing so after the news is out is not just a poor PR choice, but a devastating waste of resources.

Another thing is this... There is only ONE reason why there are such massive queues at customs at the moment, and it is that singular truth that has the UKBA so worried. The fact is that the cuts to thier budget mean that the managers and chairpersons of the organisation had to make some hard choices not so long back. The choice was essentially, either allow the upper management of the UKBA to take a massive (but no where near crippling) pay cut, or cut a few hundred jobs. Obviously, they chose what any self respecting manager would choose, and cowered behind thier contracts, while reducing the workforce in one of the most understaffed border agencies in the world, and preventing the required number of customs officials from being stationed at thier desks.

The results speak for themselves. I do wonder however, exactly how it is that the UKBA have the gall to demand an informational blackout surrounding this story. For one thing, it is not in thier power as far as I am aware to order any one to do anything, unless it directly involves thier work. They have no power to prevent the media from reportage on any given topic, they have no right to demand that any organisation behave in any particular fashion, except where thier orders refer to a point of immigration and customs and excise law. They are not part of the intelligence services, nor do they have any actual control over BAA, so exactly how the hell have they managed to enact this tyranny?

And under what legislation would the UKBA or BAA be allowed to prevent people from documenting thier travel expirience anyway? I do not believe that either organisation has the power to prevent private persons from going about thier business in any way they see fit, as long of course, as they are not breaking the law. So what were they thinking here exactly ?? "Oh , just stop them using thier phones, thier cameras, thier iPads, and anything else they might have, and we will deal with the lawsuits later!".

I would advise every citizen of this once great kingdom, to write to thier MP demanding an explanation of the UKBA's secretive behaviour, and the resignation of the entire management of it, on the grounds that they have been behaving like Stalinist dictators. Thats the soft version. I would personally like to see these control freaks ground into the dust under very large heels.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Good point, a big crowd like that is surely an inviting target for a "terrorist" - maybe we should queue up for a security screening before entering the queue for the security checkpoint...

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
reply to post by Xcathdra

 

Good point, a big crowd like that is surely an inviting target for a "terrorist" - maybe we should queue up for a security screening before entering the queue for the security checkpoint...

I dont by into the "we have to do this because this might occur or that terrorist might attack" routine. However, that does not preclude the government / entities from making that argument.

Was just a thought I figure I would throw out..

Typical British bureaucracy.

The reason they are so bothered by it now is because of the Olympics. If it wasn't for that they wouldn't care. The Olympics seems to be the only reason the Government exist right now.