Ferry ports delay warning ahead of new passport checks

PEOPLE travelling to France by sea and train should set off earlier than normal when new exit checks at ports and Eurotunnel come into force next month. 

It was “advisable” for travellers to build in extra time on days when ports are particularly busy, according to Britain’s immigration and security minister, James Brokenshire.

The concerns relate to exit border checks that come into effect on April 8, and could impact people heading abroad for spring holidays.

Every tourist leaving the UK will have their passports checked at ferry ports for the first time in 20 years.

The checks will double the amount of time for a car with a family of four, prompting concerns that queues will build up, blocking major roads to the ports. 

The problems are likely to be particularly acute at Dover, which handles 60% of UK ferry traffic to Europe with 50 sailings a day.

Ferry companies have told the Home Office that family vehicles will have to join queues of lorries on the A20 and M20. Trials found “significant queues (of 650+ cars) will form on days when overall car numbers exceed 7, 500,” according to a letter from the UK Chamber of Shipping to MPs on the Home Affairs Committee. 

Mr Brokenshire played down concerns, saying he did not recognize the “extreme” stories about how the changes could impact travellers and insisted there were contingency plans ready. He said the government had been working with ferry companies and Eurotunnel for the last 18 months, and stressed that the checks were little different to those already carried out by airlines.

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Picture Credit: "Vehcles queueing for the ferry" by RichTea via Wikimedia Commons.

Booze-fuelled air rage rises sharply

ALCOHOL-RELATED incidents on board flights from the UK have almost tripled over the past four years, according to figures released by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

There were 114 incidents in 2014, compared to 85 in 2013, 47 in 2012 and 39 in 2011, the majority of which were caused by alcohol, said the CAA.

In an incident this year, a passenger punched cabin walls, forcing an emergency landing. Last year, a passenger tried to open a cabin door during a flight.

‘There is no excuse for rude or aggressive conduct by passengers towards cabin crew or fellow passengers on board aircraft,’ said a CAA spokesman. ‘It is a specific criminal offence to be drunk on board an aircraft, and also to refuse to comply with instructions from the captain.’

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How to annoy UK embassy staff!

THE UK government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has revealed some of the most unusual enquiries Brits have made while abroad.

• A caller asked for help with setting up ‘British-style’ hanging baskets at a trade show because the professional gardener hired for the purpose had stage fright.

• A British woman asked the consulate in Albania how to find out if her son’s fiancée was already married.
• A caller asked for advice on how to treat a cat’s infected paw.
• A man called requesting embassy staff in Mexico City go to the airport to check whether he had left his mobile phone on a plane.
• A woman in Italy called to enquire how she could get her TV antenna to receive English-language channels.
• An event co-ordinator in Brussels asked for the name of a Scottish chef based in the country who could make haggis for a Burns Night event.

The FCO’s contact centres received more than 365,000 calls from British nationals last year. While the vast majority were calls from people who needed genuine help, there were many bizarre requests. FCO said such enquiries stem from a lack of understanding of what FCO consular teams can do for British nationals overseas. 

Foreign & Commonwealth Office minister, David Lidington, said it was important for consular staff to be able to focus on “our most vulnerable people, such as victims of crime, those who have lost a loved one abroad or people who have been detained or hospitalized overseas”.

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Picture Credit: "Foreign and Commonwealth Office - Durbar Court © User:Colin / Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons