 Poster: A snowHead
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It’s almost nothing to do with Premier Putin, and everything to do with Teresa May decimating Border Force to bolster her Austerity credentials, and subsequent Ministers’ refusal to pay a decent wage let alone assign a realistic budget for Securing Our Borders. I worked at the Home Office for a while and this is 99% the result of multiple cycles of redundancy and a complete disdain for treating employees and migrants in any civilised way. The Austerity, free market, outsourcing chickens are coming home to roost.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@CaravanSkier, The role of border force goes far beyond checking papers for immigration and the recruitment process includes an SC check. A basic requirement of the SC is that you have been resident in the UK for 4 out of the last 5 years, so if you have been abroad for more than the last 12 months it could be 4 years before you can obtain the clearance.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
| Glosterwolf wrote: |
I see the result of this being massive ques in arrivals. Shouldn't do much in the way of stopping departures or getting people off planes, should it?  |
Like you I'm flying out to Switzerland from LHR on 26th December. Whilst the initial effect of the strikes is of course on arrivals, if there are massive queues at arrivals I've seen suggestions that it could result in delays to people disembarking from incoming flights with resultant knock-on effects to the aircraft departure times. Just as well for my rail transfer to Wengen I bought a Saver Day Pass ticket which means I'm not constrained to a particular time train service. |
Yes I read similar today. We also have the day saver tickets, just hope we don't arrive any later than the last train departure.
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| Quote: |
I worked at the Home Office for a while and this is 99% the result of multiple cycles of redundancy and a complete disdain for treating employees and migrants in any civilised way
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This chimes with my experience of working on recruitment for Executive Officers for the Home Office - horrendous staff turnover, disdainful management, quite junior staff (Executive Officers) expected to take on complex case work. I worked with some extremely capable, bright, Executive Officers in our devolved HQ in Scotland and was shocked at the very low standards even of the people we just about scraped through to the interview stage, having marked their written attempt at quite a demanding exercise. All the EOs in our office would have walked it. I spent years after taking early retirement chairing Civil Service Selection Boards for Fast Streamers and nobody ever put the Home Office as their top choice.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
| mountainaddict, are you flying during this period? |
No, I'm not. But if I was (or if I'm affected by similar action on my Jan or Mar ski trips) I'll just suck it up - same as when I've had train journeys affected by the railworkers' action and faced disruption and inconvenience.
Strikes cause inconvenience to people. That's the whole point and just how it is. And (from what I can see) people will have at least had their holidays, with the impact mainly being on people getting back into the country.
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Fully support any strike action to improve pay and conditions. Some of the attitudes on here are pathetic "oh woeth me...I may have to make alternative arrangements or queue for longer". Have a long hard look at yourselves.
Anger should be directed at the Government and the huge multi-million/billion pound companies draining our services. |
Couldn't have put it better myself 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Does anyone know if this will disrupt departures as well as arrivals?
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@Snowsartre, as I commented in my previous post, whilst the initial effect of the strikes is of course on arrivals, if there are massive queues at arrivals I've seen suggestions that it could result in delays to people disembarking from incoming flights with resultant knock-on effects to the aircraft departure times.
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Flying back to the U.K. on 23rd and head back out on 29th. I may have some luck that I’m using Stansted and Luton. Fingers crossed that they don’t decide to strike as well.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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14 days notice required I think, so very unlikely now.
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@Glosterwolf, ah, that’s good to know. I’m not up on strike rules and don’t see a huge amount of U.K. news.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Boarderfarce wrote: |
We are travelling back from France on the 24th. Expecting the worst at Gatwick. At least its on our way back I suppose.
Merry Christmas |
Ditto, but from Austria late afternoon. I’ve mentally allowed for 2 hours standing in passport queues.
But someone mentioned to me that the eGates should make it much quicker for UK passport holders.
Fingers crossed.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Given my experience returning on Monday, I'd say that the eGates are now working pretty well and I'd opt to use them by preference. Initially, it looked like the gates were very busy but people were getting through quite fast. There were about 8-10 people in each gate line but while it looked packed, the gates were processing people pretty fast, compared to previous times I've used them.
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Used e-gates for the first time returning into Heathrow in October (until then always had an under-12 in tow). I always have a worry that such things in the UK don’t tend to work well and one of our party might get stranded. , But once I had realised you had to push yr passport right into the reader and stand in exactly the place indicated (after some helpful shouts from the back) it was no problem.
Would use then again.
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You know it makes sense.
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E gates accept a wide range of passports not just U.K. (EU, Swiss, Canada among others I recall). Unfortunately when the Arrivals queue is so backed up it does prevent access to E gates as well until you get a bit closer.
I’m preparing for an extra hour camped out with the younger ones while the teens and husband waltz through… we really do treat families worse than anywhere else when arriving here! But will take full advantage when travelling solo.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@ster, the eGates were a pain for me when they first came into use. They didn’t seem to like my involuntary wandering eyes when I took my glasses off. I was nearly always passed onto a human. They seem much better now so something must’ve been changed with them.
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Poster: A snowHead
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The eGates do work well but they require someone qualified to monitor them and if there are no Border Force staff on duty (as opposed to the Army and other civil service volunteer staff running the passport control) then they are not likely to be turned on.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Heathrow have already announced the egates will be fully operational throughout.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Heathrow can announce what they like but the eGates are not operated by Heathrow Airport staff so they cannot say whether they will be operational or not.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The article I read on it last week implied that they were corresponding with border force. We will find out Friday if they were making misleading announcements or not.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Be glad when it's completely automated and the whole lot are made redundant.
Likewise driverless trains.
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| Whitegoldsbrother wrote: |
Be glad when it's completely automated and the whole lot are made redundant.
Likewise driverless trains. |
You really are special....and not in the good way.
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@Whitegoldsbrother, being whitegold I am surprised you havnt added automated operations and robots on hospital wards, so sack all the NHS nurses and doctors, peanus
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I believe this may have affected me today. My flight home to Birmingham was delayed and delayed and delayed. Until it wasn't. Its been cancelled and I'm staying at Geneva for the night.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@LeanBackAndLetItHappen, There were very few delays at BHX today, yours was the only cancellation. There is no aircraft allocated on FR24 and EasyJet are not saying why it was cancelled. I suspect that EasyJet Switzerland were an aircraft down for some reason.
Edit Border Force strikes not due to start till the 23rd.
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Yep the 14:20 GVA -> BHX was a Little Late departing but I was through passport control and dragging ski bag to the car in what felt like less than 30mins - probably the fastest I’ve ever had at BHX.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| chocksaway wrote: |
@LeanBackAndLetItHappen, There were very few delays at BHX today, yours was the only cancellation. There is no aircraft allocated on FR24 and EasyJet are not saying why it was cancelled. I suspect that EasyJet Switzerland were an aircraft down for some reason.
Edit Border Force strikes not due to start till the 23rd. |
We were allocated an aircraft all day, I imagine that changed after the fact. It was the 12:15 ish flight from Birmingham to become our plane. I spoke to easyJet after the cancellation and they cited "supplier failure" when I pressed them they told me it was Birmingham airport. A flight from BHX to GVA was cancelled in addition to mine.
I'm not sure what departure board you've been looking at but when I look at BHX it seems to be mostly red.
Just double checked my facts and you're right about the border force strikes, but Birmingham airport is definitely the culprit here.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@LeanBackAndLetItHappen, I did track it back to the previous flight which was 4 hours late leaving BHX. EasyJet cited boarding delays which could mean a whole host of things, but it is something that Easy are responsible for, even though it might have been a contractor, which may have been the airport, the baggage handlers, the ground handlers the refuellers, a lack of a technician to fix a door, etc. If it had been something that could be blamed on exceptional circumstances it would have been all over the website.
There were periods yesterday when delays were in the red but there were very few over an hour which is not unusual in winter.
Hope today works for you.
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[quote="Whitegoldsbrother"]
| Fridge03 wrote: |
Let's put 10% on income tax to pay for it all |
Is this a real suggestion or just for a laugh?
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You know it makes sense.
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Flying out on 24 Dec, returning 31 Dec to Gatwick and we cannot use the e-gates as our child is under 12. Dreading it!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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We are flying back to the UK on the 24th will post back then
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Poster: A snowHead
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We flew into Gatwick yesterday at 13:30 and went through passport control with no queue whatsoever (1 person in front of each of us at the e-gate). There was a minimal queue for the manned booths - the shortest queue I’ve ever seen at Gatwick. We’d packed snacks and drinks, fully prepared for a 2 hour wait but it was surprisingly fine!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Yep. Fastest ever time through Heathrow T2 last night. No queues anywhere.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Lots of people so not no queue but moved very quickly arriving Manchester 10pm last night. As far as I could see all border force personnel as usual (not army).
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OH flew into Gatwick too yesterday arriving 15:30 and reported absolutely no queues.
Will be interesting to see what occurs when she comes back on the 30th.
Plus what will Eurotunnel and Ferry Ports be like?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@Weathercam, i came through Eurotunnel at Calais yesterday afternoon, it was very busy through both French and UK border controls and every available window was open, it was just the weight of traffic.
we missed the train we were originally booked on but then went straight on to the next one.
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| terrygasson wrote: |
@Weathercam, i came through Eurotunnel at Calais yesterday afternoon, it was very busy through both French and UK border controls and every available window was open, it was just the weight of traffic.
we missed the train we were originally booked on but then went straight on to the next one. |
It will possibly be busier due to increased traffic, but border staff strikes do not affect eurotunnel - the only affected port is Newhaven
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@andmelffion, i did mention it was due to the weight of traffic, and knew that the border force strikes did not affect Eurotunnel, but @weathercam asked the question regarding what Eurotunnel may be like?
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@terrygasson, plus in my ignorance I didn't know that Eurotunnel were not affected, how so?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Weathercam, I don't know to be honest, I would have thought they are all one union and would all be out on strike, but it was reported that it seemed to be only certain locations that would be affected.
luckily for me the Border Force personnel at Folkestone/Calais were working normally, as I am sure with the amount of traffic going through yesterday it would have been horrendous.
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Just through T5 at Heathrow very speedily. E gates didn’t work for us and quite a few others but we were then through with a Border Force chap quickly.
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FAQ
