Long queues at T5 border control
Apr 28, 2012, 3:17 am
#286
formerly rxfleming
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One thing I do admire about the UK is that it did not take long for this to rise to the level where action will be tsken or heads will roll. As opposed to IS where people just tolerate government ineptness. And therein lies the reason ehy many of us dont want to see government running the healthcare system.
Back to Topic... Queues fine for me today at T1 and were fine for me the other yesterday at T5 - waited less than 10 mins and IRIS was working.
Last edited by travelwithross; Apr 28, 2012 at 3:26 am
Apr 28, 2012, 4:43 am
#288
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Glad to see she has grasped the urgency of the problem …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/tr...-minister.html
Theresa May, the Home Secretary is due to meet airlines within the next few weeks to discuss the delays.
Apr 28, 2012, 4:48 am
#289
Join Date: May 2003
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Glad to see she has grasped the urgency of the problem …
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/tr...-minister.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/tr...-minister.html
Apr 28, 2012, 4:53 am
#290
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However, when BAA and Border Force seem to working on different figures [according to that article] it could be a difficult week.
Apr 28, 2012, 5:31 am
#291
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: London, England.
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Surely the thing for BAA to do now is to call for the resignation of Home Secretary Theresa May.
Normally that gives you all sorts of spiteful grief afterwards, to do that to a government minister. However as The Girlie (alias Transport Secretary Justine Greening) has eyes bolted firmly on ever-higher office, it is likely that she would support this, the ensuing reshuffle, and her own chances of heading up the ladder rather than down the snake being increased. It's also a heaven-sent opportunity for transport operators in the country of all modes to get rid from the DfT of The Girlie, who doesn't know one end of an aircraft from the other.
Winners all round.
Lies, damn lies, and government department statistics. Possibly those Home Office staff measuring the queues are from the same agency who measure the queueing time for T5 security when departing, who take passengers boarding cards from them to scan them and calculate the queue quite some minutes before you actually get to the head of the queue and get served.
Normally that gives you all sorts of spiteful grief afterwards, to do that to a government minister. However as The Girlie (alias Transport Secretary Justine Greening) has eyes bolted firmly on ever-higher office, it is likely that she would support this, the ensuing reshuffle, and her own chances of heading up the ladder rather than down the snake being increased. It's also a heaven-sent opportunity for transport operators in the country of all modes to get rid from the DfT of The Girlie, who doesn't know one end of an aircraft from the other.
Winners all round.
However, when BAA and Border Force seem to working on different figures [according to that article] it could be a difficult week.
Last edited by WHBM; Apr 28, 2012 at 5:36 am
Apr 28, 2012, 6:20 am
#294
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,846
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)
Oh, dear, that all got a bit volatile. Ooops.
Anyway:
And I'm delighted the Media have seized on the topic
I agree it's positive the media have jumped on it, number 1 item on this mornings BBC news, with some wobbly mobile footage of tensabarrier hell from T5 last night (queues over 2 hours apparently). Thankfully one of the politicians said the Olympics is not the real issue, now and after is more important.
Originally Posted by T8191
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3)
With respect, you live "abroad". It's my current taxes that are paying for this!
I don't mean to be cutting, but free choice and all that.
With respect, you live "abroad". It's my current taxes that are paying for this!
I don't mean to be cutting, but free choice and all that.
Anyway:
- I pay taxes in both UK and Jersey.
- I am a Registered Overseas voter.
- I remain in regular contact with my former Constituency Association.
- I occasionally write to my MP.
And I'm delighted the Media have seized on the topic
Apr 28, 2012, 6:51 am
#296
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: London, England.
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I wonder if these significantly different experiences at different times of day are due to the Home Office staff rosters getting completely out of sync with the pax arrivals - which are accurately identified long in advance. Are there still many staff just doing 9 to 5 ?
It's not as if the airport has great moments of peak demand - as we all know Heathrow's runways support 41 movements per hour, and every inbound slot for every hour from 0600 to 2100 has been sold out for years.
It's not as if the airport has great moments of peak demand - as we all know Heathrow's runways support 41 movements per hour, and every inbound slot for every hour from 0600 to 2100 has been sold out for years.
Apr 28, 2012, 7:11 am
#297
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Whatever the issue of the day, Keith Vaz is never far from a TV camera.
I'm pleased this is getting some attention. Maybe I've been fortunate and never had to suffer a 2-3 hour wait, but I've regularly been standing for 30 minutes, which is not what you need after a long trip. I can't think of any airport in the world which is consistently as bad as LHR (though DXB has its bad days) especially for domestic/EU passengers.
Recently I have been flying into MAD, a growing hub, a lot and the passport check there never takes more than a few minutes.
I'm pleased this is getting some attention. Maybe I've been fortunate and never had to suffer a 2-3 hour wait, but I've regularly been standing for 30 minutes, which is not what you need after a long trip. I can't think of any airport in the world which is consistently as bad as LHR (though DXB has its bad days) especially for domestic/EU passengers.
Recently I have been flying into MAD, a growing hub, a lot and the passport check there never takes more than a few minutes.
Apr 28, 2012, 7:13 am
#298
Join Date: Oct 2009
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Head of Border Force on BBC News Channel being interviewed now. Just claimed that they are *not* failing at Heathrow...
Now blaming Airports for not funneling people into correct queues. This guy is unbelievable. Not sure what planet he is on.
Now blaming Airports for not funneling people into correct queues. This guy is unbelievable. Not sure what planet he is on.
Apr 28, 2012, 7:15 am
#299
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Location: Cambridge, UK
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Now saying that if people have to wait 3-4 hours "then so be it."
Apr 28, 2012, 7:19 am
#300
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My (Canadian) wife watching the interview with me just said "this man is what is wrong with this country (the UK)" - i.e. it is OK to be mediocre if we think that is how it needs to be.
This guy is seriously far removed from reality. Incidentally, since married nearly 4 years ago we have paid UKBA in excess of GBP 2000 to obtain her the necessary visas/permits to live legally here with her British spouse (me). Others applying to the UKBA for visas/leave to remain face similarly high fees. I wonder how much of this goes back into properly resourcing the UKBA/UKBF?
This guy is seriously far removed from reality. Incidentally, since married nearly 4 years ago we have paid UKBA in excess of GBP 2000 to obtain her the necessary visas/permits to live legally here with her British spouse (me). Others applying to the UKBA for visas/leave to remain face similarly high fees. I wonder how much of this goes back into properly resourcing the UKBA/UKBF?