Originally Posted by
cysyuen
The person (which will take you to immigration) would be waiting at the CS desk past each hour i.e. 09:00, 10:00. You will then need to show him/her your BP and your passport. After they have logged you down on the paper then you will be escorted to the immigration queue whcih could be very long!
Sounds like it could be quicker to fly to Manchester and back again to avoid the wait at the desk and then any wait at immigration!
Originally Posted by
njf63
Some scenarios:
1. Passenger is exiting for genuine reasons with only the belongings he took through Security going in - no risk.
2. Passenger has bought "duty-free" items airside which he does not declare - relative to the enormous volume of pax passing through Customs every day, surely an incremental risk of effectively zero ?
3. Passenger has received contraband from a 3rd party while airside - but still has to take it through Customs so as above surely the incremental risk is nil ?
Scenario 2 could also be worked around by flying a domestic leg whilst holding a BP for an international leg. You'd only need the international BP for showing to the shops to get VAT free...though I don't see what it would save seeing as the prices are the same, so only the retailer would benefit.
Scenario 3 would probably pose the most risk as I believe most of what custom & excise do is based on intelligence about inbound passengers. They'd probably not monitor a passenger's movements between the gate and immigration that much, probably none at all whilst on the train even if they had advanced planning to stop them.