[Anonymous]

[Bucksnet]

I’ve never seen it this bad: –

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/9231246/Heathrow-Airport-descends-into-fresh-immigration-chaos.html

Time to purge the CP traitors from the Home Office, but as Cameron is CP, they control the government.

[ChrisBuda82]

You think with all that money they get from APD they could employ more people becoming a Joke this county I am heading down under to Australia in the next year getting way from the madness of the old world!.

[RichHI1]

I don’t believe UKAPD gets spent on anything related to air travel. Like the congestion charge, I suspect it is just general pocket emptying. Someone has to pay for the tax cut.

[RHMAngel]

Unfortunately I agree.

APD is about Travel and transport, UKBA is about Immigration (Home Office) – quite a different kettle of (bad) fish and ministry from the Transport ministry. As for HMRC, dishing the tax out – draw your attention to road tax which ironically never comes close to what is spent on the roads.

Best comment I heard from a business man (!) traveling business, is regardless of the class you flew, all passengers are in it together – there’s no “I paid more” lane.

I think all the threads and posts whinging about US immigration pales into puff – at least they have staff, surly or not.

The Olympics, trains, metro system – I fear for Britain and London, I really do…

[Binman62]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17876496

And here it is being reported on ten BBC web site following story in the evening standard.

I am not sure this this thread should have been started and it may have been better to continue the others currently running. This is not fresh chaos it is a continuation of an utterly disgrace and wholly unacceptable situation that has been ongoing for man weeks if not months.

As for APD it has as much correlation to,travel as road tax has to building roads. Good luck in Australia wherebthebtaxes are just as bad….the difference is the sun shines……happy travel down under.

[capetonianm]

I shudder to think how they are going to cope during the Olympics. I thank my lucky stars I don’t have to come near the country during that time.

I have just had a call from a friend who stood in a queue at T1 for nearly 3 hours this afternoon.

[RichHI1]

Does anyone know what has happened to Damian Green and Theresa May? Not heard a dicky bird since she screwed up the timing on thE ECHR. Latest train wreck for Dave being the Murdoch revelations. He seems to be strong on loyalty if poor on judgement.

[Bucksnet]

The link to the Evening Standard in the BBC article is wrong; here is the correct link: –

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/transport/minister-told-to-get-a-grip-over-queue-chaos-at-heathrow-7684606.html

[VintageKrug]

It seems we are to have a fresh thread on this every day. How helpful.

It should be made clear that it is the PCS Union which is engineering this, by rostering people less efficiently, going slow, not reporting faulty e-gates and IRIS systems and generally being difficult in order to embarrass the government into increasing their pay and reversing essential cuts to budgets as automation becomes increasingly effective in dealing with passport control.

You’ll note the press release dated last week, which aligns with when the Border became problematic:

http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/19CD0C79-2528-4812-8697CF5AD5BC337F

This is nothing to do with cuts, or government incompetence, and everything to do with union politics in the run up to a strike on 10 May which no-one will notice.

[flier74]

Quite frankly, I do not care who’s “fault” this is anymore. Arriving tonight just after 2000 into Terminal 5 and queues for immigration reached all the way to the south corner by Gate A19. You regular ravellers will know where that is. It really needs sorting out. London ready for the Olympics, really? I don’t think so.
And as for IRIS and e Gates, you still need to queue all that way too. Welcome to the UK, no wonder other airlines call Heathrow the “Lagos of Europe” , no offence intended, just a quote!

[LeTigre]

Not building a third runway is one thing but sacking all the UKBA staff is another! Surely someone in Government realised that this was going to cause chaos…

[Bucksnet]

VK, the fact is that CP penetration extends into the unions as well.

The rostering should be done by management. The union should not be running the show, and a government with some balls would sort the matter out and sack anyone who stands in the way of doing what is right for the country. However, as CP penetration goes all the way to the top, it just aint happening until a pro-British government is elected.

[RichHI1]

Managing the Border Force should be being done by Mr Green and his department with ultimately responsibility being carried by the Home Secretary. I have no doubt that the situation is out of control and the union involved plays a strong part. I have no dount that pilloring Mr Brodie and the UKBA in order to save her political skin did little to ease the situation.
To be clear I do not suggest this is a party political issue, we hve not had a government of any politicis which has done a good job in this area in living memory.

[Binman62]

Canot agree that his is the fault of the unions. This is the fault of a home secretary who wanted to show how tought she was with “jonny foreigner” for the benifit of virtual travellers everywhere and daily mail/daily express readership in particular.

Typical tactic for this government is blame an underling and hang on to your ministerial car, after all the Windsor suite avoids the great unwashed and queues for the posh boys and girls so completely detached from reality.

Visitors beware, if you have not booked, for you own sanity avoid the UK if at all possible but at the very least avoid heathrow. When you are likely to spend up to 3 times longer in the immigration queue than on your flight, it is time to travel somewhere else. This is not alarmist propaganda, it is the reality of arriving at Heathrow today and for the foreseeable future.

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