New border controls at St Pancras

[radamfi]

According to the thread on uk.railway, trains from Brussels (as they all stop at Lille and sometimes Calais) now have routine passport checks on arrival at St Pancras.

Someone had an email from Eurostar advising that you now need to allow an extra 30 minutes (!) when making onward connections.

Nous vous invitons à prévoir 30 minutes supplémentaires pour toute correspondance à prendre au Royaume-Uni lors de votre trajet au départ de Bruxelles.

En effet la UK Border Agency (agence de contrôle à la frontière) effectue des contrôles supplémentaires à l’arrivée au Royaume-Uni,
ce qui peut entraîner une courte attente avant la poursuite de votre voyage. C’est pourquoi nous vous recommandons de prendre en compte unpetit délai supplémentaire au moment de planifier vos trajets en correspondance.

which translates to:

We suggest that you allow an extra 30 minutes for any connection you wish to make in the United Kingdom when travelling from Brussels.

The UK Border Agency is carrying out additional checks on arrival in the United Kingdom, which may lead to a short delay before you can continue your journey. We therefore advise you to allow a small amount of extra time when planning your connecting journeys.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I posted this in the Fares section in error. Please move to the General Discussion section.

 

[Wyvern]

Would this have anything to do with questions being asked in Parliament and Theresa May getting into hot water?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17099143

 

[Mike395]

I posted this in the Fares section in error. Please move to the General Discussion section.

Moved to International Transport :P

I agree with Wyvern, I think this is to do with the messup made by immigration staff, and also has the added benefit of closing the Lille Loophole for all services except the few remaining Paris - Lille - UK services

I hope these are also at Ashford & Ebbsfleet, by the way, or these new controls are rendered useless.

 

[Schnellzug]

Good old british isolationist paranoia. It's a miracle that the Channle Tunnle was built in the first place under the Tories, but we all should offer thanks to them for them for defending Fortress Britain against Foreigners and Terrorists.

Why in goodness name couldn't they do this on the train?

 

[gordonthemoron]

except ofcourse them home grown terrorists that blew up the tube

 

[33056]

Was fine last just last Tuesday with no additional checks, however they were actually checking tickets after arrival at St. Pancras on one trip I did at the back end of last year (Had heard from others of them doing this before)

 

[jon0844]

Good old british isolationist paranoia. It's a miracle that the Channle Tunnle was built in the first place under the Tories

What has politics got to do with it?

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk

 

[Ferret]

What has politics got to do with it?

Sent from my Commodore 64 using Tapatalk

Yes, I find it bizarre that a country should want to keep its borders secure. I mean, Britain is the only Country in the world that does passport grips and has Customs Officers isn't it?!

 

[jon0844]

I merely questioned why I read "It's a miracle that the Channle Tunnle was built in the first place under the Tories", not the politics of having border checks or not.

It seemed irrelevant to the thread, especially given it WAS the Tories that were in power when it was built and so how do we know any other party would have built it (my guess is they would, but still).

 

[AlterEgo]

Roll on Schengen. I'd jump for joy if we joined the scheme, I really would. I don't understand why, practically, it cannot be implemented.

 

[Eagle]

Roll on Schengen. I'd jump for joy if we joined the scheme, I really would. I don't understand why, practically, it cannot be implemented.

Well, we'd have to join at the same time as Ireland (otherwise it would violate the Good Friday Agreement), but that's hardly an obstacle—after all, it was the UK that dragged Ireland into the EEC in the first place.

 

[WestCoast]

Well, we'd have to join at the same time as Ireland (otherwise it would violate the Good Friday Agreement), but that's hardly an obstacle—after all, it was the UK that dragged Ireland into the EEC in the first place.

It seemed to me that in the 'good times', the Republic of Ireland was, at least on the surface, more pro-EU/Schengen Agreement than the UK.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Yes, I find it bizarre that a country should want to keep its borders secure. I mean, Britain is the only Country in the world that does passport grips and has Customs Officers isn't it?!

You have a point, but it does amuse me how the whole suspension of electronic passport scanning is such a scandal when the rest of Europe rarely bothers with it.

The last time I entered Spain, the immigration officer didn't even open my passport! Can you imagine if that happened in the UK? There would be uproar...

 

[radamfi]

Perhaps the check-in requirement should be abolished in Calais, Lille and Brussels if passports are going to be checked at St Pancras? So the 30 minutes you lose at St Pancras could be recouped by not needing to arrive for the train so early.

 

[Ferret]

I merely questioned why I read "It's a miracle that the Channle Tunnle was built in the first place under the Tories", not the politics of having border checks or not.
.

I know - I was agreeing with you, in a mildly sarcastic way

 

[Yew]

Perhaps the check-in requirement should be abolished in Calais, Lille and Brussels if passports are going to be checked at St Pancras? So the 30 minutes you lose at St Pancras could be recouped by not needing to arrive for the train so early.

Its not about how thorough the checks are, its about how big the queues are.

 

[radamfi]

Well, we'd have to join at the same time as Ireland (otherwise it would violate the Good Friday Agreement), but that's hardly an obstacle—after all, it was the UK that dragged Ireland into the EEC in the first place.

I wonder why Ireland have become lukewarm about the Common Travel Area with the UK in recent years and now routinely check passports on flights from the UK?

 

[Eagle]

I wonder why Ireland have become lukewarm about the Common Travel Area with the UK in recent years and now routinely check passports on flights from the UK?

That's more a security thing than immigration (you need photo ID to get on any flight).

 

[radamfi]

That's more a security thing than immigration (you need photo ID to get on any flight).

But you can fly from Ireland to the UK and arrive at domestic arrivals, so no passport check on arrival. If you fly from the UK to Ireland you join the same queue for passport checks as everyone else in the EEA.

 

[Eagle]

But you can fly from Ireland to the UK and arrive at domestic arrivals, so no passport check on arrival. If you fly from the UK to Ireland you join the same queue for passport checks as everyone else in the EEA.

Interesting, I didn't know that—the only time I've been to Ireland it was on the ferry, no checks either way (just a simple "Are you British?" on entering Ireland and nothing at all in the other direction).

I assume also that this is only for flights from GB, and there would be no immigration/border checks on a flight from, say, Belfast to Cork (since, as I've mentioned, it would be a violation of the terms of the GFA, which guarantees unimpeded travel between the two sides of the border).

 

[jon0844]

I know - I was agreeing with you, in a mildly sarcastic way

Sorry, it went over my head.. it's been a long day.

Its not about how thorough the checks are, its about how big the queues are.

Ah yes, I remember the times (before 9/11) where you had queues for a security check (person or bags) and if you stood at the back of a long queue, you found that once it reached a certain point they just asked you to come to the side and bypass the checks.

Not sure that would happen now!

 

[WestCoast]

That's more a security thing than immigration (you need photo ID to get on any flight).

Incorrect. It is not currently a requirement to present photo ID on UK domestic flights operated by BA or bmi.

Any sort of ID will suffice.

 

[Eagle]

Incorrect. It is not currently a requirement to present photo ID on UK domestic flights operated by BA or bmi.

I stand corrected. (Although mandatory photo ID to get on a plane does seem like a fairly sensible thing to do IMO.)

 

[WestCoast]

I stand corrected. (Although mandatory photo ID to get on a plane does seem like a fairly sensible thing to do IMO.)

BA ask for...

Domestic UK travel
Credit card, Executive Club frequent flyer card, driving licence, company works card / ID

There certainly used to be a procedure where those passengers not holding photo ID were photographed before entering security control, which was then checked at the boarding gate. Or alternatively fingerprinted at Heathrow T5...

On the other hand, Ryanair was passport or EU identity card only before they stopped domestic UK flights.

 

[button_boxer]

Perhaps the check-in requirement should be abolished in Calais, Lille and Brussels if passports are going to be checked at St Pancras? So the 30 minutes you lose at St Pancras could be recouped by not needing to arrive for the train so early.

Unlikely as you'd still have the Belgian exit checks and baggage scanning to go through in Brussels even if UK immigration checks moved to this side of the channel.

 

[WestCoast]

There has to be an exit control for passports at all Eurostar stations on the continent as per the terms of the Schengen Agreement, which states that everyone must be checked leaving the Schengen zone.

 

[transmanche]

I wonder why Ireland have become lukewarm about the Common Travel Area with the UK in recent years and now routinely check passports on flights from the UK?

You don't need a passport - a photo driving licence (or similar) will suffice.

 

[IanXC]

The last time I entered Spain, the immigration officer didn't even open my passport! Can you imagine if that happened in the UK? There would be uproar...

After a conversation with a border guard a Spanish friend told me that, at least on the Spanish border, they consider passengers arriving from the CTA to be "like people arriving into the bailey of a castle, from the keep". Some bizarre idea that our checks are already more thorough and so anyone arriving must be ok...

 

[radamfi]

You don't need a passport - a photo driving licence (or similar) will suffice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Travel_Area#In_Ireland

says

All passengers arriving in Ireland from the United Kingdom by air now pass through Irish border controls, administered by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). While British citizens are not required to be in possession of a valid travel document as a condition of entry to Ireland, they may be required to satisfy immigration officials as to their nationality.

So you have to prove you are British. Does having a UK driving licence prove you are British?

 

[WestCoast]

After a conversation with a border guard a Spanish friend told me that, at least on the Spanish border, they consider passengers arriving from the CTA to be "like people arriving into the bailey of a castle, from the keep". Some bizarre idea that our checks are already more thorough and so anyone arriving must be ok...

I think they think that in quite a few countries. I remember approaching the desk in Athens and the officer saying something like "UK flight?" and waving me through after a quick flash of the photo page.

 

[b0b]

Does having a UK driving licence prove you are British?

It might be used to suggest residency in the UK, but for sure, does not prove citizenship of any particular country.