vla

He also said that people actually have not had to wait three hours to clear immigration.

hsmall

He was a prize jobsworth. In addition to blaming BAA for not sorting people into the right queues he was blaming airlines for "allowing people to arrive all bunched up" or words to that effect.

The overall impression was that he thought there might well be long queues and we should all get over it in the interests of border security.

Camflyer

Fancy that. People arrive at Heathrow all bunched up in groups. On things called planes. How very inconvenient for the authorities and inconsiderate of the passengers.

hsmall

I listened again. What he was saying was that the problem was that the airlines were not presenting planes in timetable order. That apparently makes a difference and he doesn't think it's fair that all the dialogue is about his agency. An he doesn't think the case is made for more staff!!

WineList

What is Mr Moore thinking? He seems to think that the "safety of the UK border" can be managed with 8 staff on the EU passport lines.

He has access to airline timetables; knows when planes will land and how many passengers are on them and can surely resource accordingly.

He is a complete pratt and should take a trip down there himself. If every desk was manned, then maybe a different story and one for BAA, but this is clearly his problem

Skipcool3

The "Problem" is:

- that the numbers of people arriving is increasing.
- the numbers of people arriving on friday nights 18:30 Amsterdam (for example) flight will be different to Saturday nights 18:30 flight.
A busy business flight with lots of regular travellers will clear a lot quicker than a flight with infrequent flyers.
-That flights will obviously arrive in "bunches" and that some flights will arrive early and some late....
This all creates a number of headaches.

The "problem" is made worse because the UKBA has lost a lot of staff, and will continue to do so under the Governments plans for austerity..... unless we, the affected traveller, make representation that it is not good enough and insist that more of the HUGE taxes and charges we all pay on our airline tickets are assigned to building a Border Force that is fit for purpose and efficient.

sunrisegirl

I've just yelled furiously at the TV - what a load of old boll....

"Our borders are safe". Yeah right, what about all the people this Government know zap all about who comes across from France in lorries, etc. And don't get me started on why we can't deport people known to be involved in terrorism.

Brian Moore needs to get his head out the clouds (or whatever dark place he has it), and get his own backside down to LHR to sort out the mess. Twit

Even at LGW I've seen queues past Flight Connections and snaking towards Pier 6.

BAHumbug

I don't disagree with you Skipcool3, but I actually think the problem is that the people affected are in no position to do anything about it - a large percentage are not even UK residents and UK residents can do very little until the next general election, and even then I don't suppose electing the other bunch will make much difference.

Politicians don't care because Mrs May and her partners-in-crime will always be whisked through at top speed instead of having to queue for 3 hours.

UKBA doesn't care because they are paid regardless of whether passengers are processed in 20 minutes or 200 minutes.

UKBA doubly don't care because their remaining members are virtually fireproof - if any more were sacked I suspect the immigration queues would cause the airports to simply stop functioning properly. What do you do with all these people who are arriving on planes with nowhere to go ?

I would argue the airlines and BAA are in the best position to exert pressure, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see them doing so.

I think it's going to get worse before it gets better - I suspect recruiting Border Agency staff is not straightforward.

BAH

jplondon

It's the UK, so no.

Twice T5 this week and was lucky with Iris but ridiculous queues each time for normal lines.

McCoy

But effective management would certainly help.. with some decent systems thinking.

Obviously more staff are needed, but in the mean time, how could they move around existing resources to improve things?
Well surely an important and easy step is to make it really really easy for those on UK passports to get through quickly, and ideally independantly. So get those IRIS and e-passport gates working, get more of them, and shuttle pax through them quickly. One agent can supervise several machines.

Next on the agenda is queue management. Now this is something that all of us frequent fliers are aware of, even if subconsciously. If you are standing still, and can see different queues moving at different speeds, it becomes stressful. [The Post Office solution arose form this, where ten queues at 10 booths was more stressful than a single queue, feeding all booths].
(This is why T5 security is so stressful, even if you're actually through in under 15 minutes.. lots of short queues and that sense of being 'overtaken', or 'stuck behind slow people' creates stress.)
Now it's not as simple as just creating one long queue - at immigration that is usually how it works, but we have seen the queue in T5 stretching downcorridors and around corners. Alton Towers manages queues better that most airports.The same 30 minute queue can be stressful, or pass by quickly.. it's all down to context, and distraction.
It's about creating flow, and structure, and a uniform direction.
And specifically in airport immigration, after a long flight, it's about facility and replenishment. For goodness sake, where are the drink and snack machines? BAA is missing a trick here!
There were scenes from T5 with pax not knowing where they should be going, or if they are in the correct queue or not. Signage is crucial here, with clear instruction at junctions and avoidance of any ambiguity.
Finally people management - yes, it is frustrating to see agents 'chatting' when there are queues and empty booths. They may well be on a break, or performing a supervisory role.. well do that behind closed doors.

I could go on, but you get the drift. It's something we have all observed in airports.. queue management and systems thinking.. how to make the process better.

corporate-wage-slave

This is not true. Theresa May and Damian Green get no special treatment at LHR unless they are visiting it for a specific ministerial related reason. For general travel they have to queue like the rest of us, and in the case of Damian Green I have stood alongside him at the UK Border at T5.

Only 2 politicians get that sort of special treatment (at least on paper), and I bet you can't name the second one!

BAHumbug

Sorry to say that while, on paper, you may be correct, in practice people like that always get special treatment. While you may have stood next to Damian Green, I bet it wasn't for 150 minutes...

BAH

BAHumbug

This would not be possible. You would have to treat all EU pax in the same way.

BAH

corporate-wage-slave

Well a degree of sensitivity is needed here I feel.

OK it's not much fun to queue, but every department of state is facing cuts in spending (except the NHS and the pittance we spend on foreign aid). So people on welfare have seen big cuts and tightening of criteria, state workers have had their pay frozen for multiple years and pension cuts, policeman have had their overtime and allowances scaled back, the armed forces have seen cuts in capital expenditure - the list goes on. Austerity is pretty much inevitable and not unique to the UK.

So without excusing the fact that the UK Border Force still has a big workforce, just because we are affluent and middle class we can't get a complete bypass to these austerity measures. That is simply unfair and politically unrealistic.

corporate-wage-slave

Damian Green had to wait the same 10 minutes or so that I and other EEA citizens had to wait, a bit longer actually since a constituent wanted to talk to him. He gets no special treatment, and nor does Theresa May.