Friday, November 18, 2011

Borders Row: No Checks For Private Jets. (UK)


The former borders chief is to be questioned by MPs amid new claims passports for people on private jets were not checked.

Brodie Clark, who resigned last week after a 40-year career at the Home Office, will appear before the Home Affairs Committee.

Mr Clark is expected to say he only acted to relax border checks because he was required to do so by police to stop overcrowding.

His appearance comes after a UK Border Agency (UKBA) official leaked emails claiming some passengers arriving on private charter flights did not face any passport or customs checks.

The official, working at Durham Tees Airport, voiced concerns to management at the UKBA that his staff did not even see some of the passengers.

He was told the "no-checks policy" was part of a "new national General Aviation Strategy being rolled out" and that the policy at his airport was "consistent with national policy".

The whistleblower wrote: "As we are not allowed to physically see the passengers... we have no way of checking whether the handling agent information is correct or even if the number of people arriving matches the number we have been advised.

"It is creating a situation where we are not able to secure the borders as robustly as we would like to, for no justifiable reason."
The apparent relaxation seemed to be an attempt to tackle the volume of passengers going through checks.

In an extract from an email written back to the whistleblower, management said: "The procedures were put in place to satisfy the business need and after consideration of the perceived risk of the traffic at the airport...

"It suits the business and eases the never-ending pressure on resources we have on a daily basis."

In response to the leak, a UKBA spokesman said: "It is not true that we don't carry out passport and warnings index checks on private flight passengers and we will deploy officers to airfields where we have concerns."

Government estimates show there are between 80,000 and 90,000 private jet flights every year.
This is the latest whistleblower to claim border officials were authorised to water down checks at ports and airports on orders coming from Home Secretary Theresa May.

Figures released by Labour show checks were relaxed hundreds of times under a pilot scheme authorized by Mrs May. In one week this summer, controls were eased a total of 260 times.

Mrs May said she only approved a limited pilot scheme to relax checks on some European passport holders.

She has accused Mr Brodie of going beyond it and scrapping key checks without permission, which he denies.

The official resigned following Mrs May's claims and has said he will sue the Government for constructive dismissal which could lead to a £135,000 payout.

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