While restrictions are set to hot up for unvaccinated Brits hoping to engage in domestic social life, reports suggest that Border Officials have been told to stop checking if people arriving into England from countries on the Green and Amber lists have tested negative for Covid, as well as to stop conducting other basic tests, in an attempt to reduce queuing at the border. The Guardian has the story.
Leaked instructions [to border officials] have prompted claims that the Government is turning a blind eye to the risk of importing Covid cases.
A change that came into effect on Monday means Border Force officers no longer have to verify whether new arrivals have received a negative Covid test, have booked a test within coming days, or have a passenger locator form showing an address where they will isolate if necessary.
Border Force sources contacted the Guardian on condition of anonymity to raise serious concerns with the shift in approach, meant to reduce queues as foreign travel restarts.
The Government said it would not comment on leaked documents and stressed that airlines were legally required to conduct all the necessary checks.
Ministers’ approach to the border has been one of the most heavily criticised aspects of the Government’s Covid strategy. Critics claim the Government was slow to act in shutting the borders to arrivals from India this year, ultimately allowing the more infectious Delta variant to take hold. …
An instruction sent to Border Force staff, seen by the Guardian, explains that for arrivals from countries on the Amber and Green lists:
~ Officers are not required to routinely check for a passenger locator form or pre-departure testing or tests to be taken on day two and eight after arrival.
~ Where the IT system indicates a passenger locator form has not been found, officers are not required to check for the form, or question the passenger unless the passenger displays other “warning or behavioural indicators to suggest non-compliance”.
~ Electronic gates (eGates) will no longer refer passengers to in-person checks by Border Force officers if a passenger locator form is not found. …
Border Force officers told the Guardian the changes were brought in because the IT systems used at the border were struggling to cope with the number of checks and the new policy allowing fully vaccinated passengers to avoid self-isolation on return from amber list countries. There were fears of a surge in arrivals and significantly increased queue times, they said.
One officer said: “The only rationale for this change is to speed up queue times when travel is expected to increase. At a time when the country is unlocking, this is the time when we should be using every tool available to mitigate the risks, not turn a literal blind eye.”
A Government spokesperson has denied the claims: “All passenger locator forms are still being checked by carriers, as they are legally required to do, and to suggest otherwise is wrong. This legal requirement on carriers is underpinned by a robust compliance regime, which is overseen by regulators.”
Worth reading in full.
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So here we have the mainstream media calling the shots.
Of course, it is inconsistent behaviour by the Government. But the mainstream media are only challenging the Government where restrictions are not in place. No challenge is made regarding restrictions that are in place.
It makes you wonder where the push is coming from.
We’re At War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8uDjO-qkp8
Stand in South Hill Park Bracknell every Sunday from 10am meet fellow anti lockdown freedom lovers, keep yourself sane, make new friends and have a laugh.
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Home Education – Ex-Primary School Teacher on Resistance GB YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ5oS2ejye0
https://www.hopesussex.co.uk/our-mission
The MSM have an agenda, conscious or unconscious, to remould the world according to their vision
They felt threatened by Trump and were merciless
Also Nigel Farage equally merciless especially as he defeated them and angered the media barons
It’s from Bill Gates the vaccine tsar and depopulator.
Surely this news item alone shows that the “pandemic” isn’t one! IF the govt. were genuinely fearful that these viruses are a danger to our lives , then border checks would be stringent. IF is a very big word…
The airlines check. They aren’t getting rid of the checks, they are just not double checking.
You are watching the rolling out of an efficient totalitarian system in which the government sets rules and then forces others to police them. Like pubs, nightclubs, football stadiums, airlines.
In a well established totalitarian regime, everyone is the police.
So you need to be double stabbed, muzzled, and have sticks shoved up your nose before you can leave the country, but you can enter the country with no hassle.
Does this include foreign tourists? (as well as illegal immigrants, naturally.)
I can only speak for Cyprus, but you can’t get on a ‘plane to the UK from here without a negative test and Passenger Locator Form completed.
My wife went through the process on Saturday LCA – LHR.
She had to purchase and provide proof of Day 2 and Day 8 Covid tests and is now self-isolating with daily telephone checks (and potential physical checks) from the government.
Just turn up on the coast of Calais with a dingy and Border Farce will tow you across*.
* This may only be available to gimmigrants illegally entering the country, not the law-abiding.
the people smugglers are missing a trick. They could offer a two way service
My thoughts exactly
No. The airlines do the work for them.
No they’re exempt.
It occurs to me that pretty much the same people who say we should be barred from having a normal life if we refuse to get the covid vaccine are the same people who say we shouldn’t turn away third world migrants, who could be bringing in TB, HIV/AIDS and a whole host of other diseases which we’ve eradicated in the first world but still exist in the third world, because that’s ‘disease shaming’
The woke ones
“turn a literal blind eye” – bloody idiot.
The appropriate term would be to ‘turn a Nelson eye’. Give that great man some credit.
We’re At War.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8uDjO-qkp8
Stand in South Hill Park Bracknell every Sunday from 10am meet fellow anti lockdown freedom lovers, keep yourself sane, make new friends and have a laugh.
Join our Stand in the Park – Bracknell – Telegram Group
http://t.me/astandintheparkbracknell
Home Education – Ex-Primary School Teacher on Resistance GB YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ5oS2ejye0
https://www.hopesussex.co.uk/our-mission
again, you quote the bloody Grauniad…..it’s likely a pack of unsubstantiated lies created to force a response from the Govt.
Stop with the quotes from wholly untrustable sources
It’s difficult to tell but this report almost reads as if you’re criticising the government for this (mentioning “importing cases”; its actually a good thing).
Covid is endemic and the myth that it can be stopped by various border controls is what is supporting the pointless and draconian restrictions on travel.
For countries with roughly similar infection levels, travel is a zero sum game; if an infected person travels from country A to B, and his counterpart from B to A, what’s the difference to them both staying at home? You can only be in one place at once, and of course that’s before we even start on the myth that people without symptoms are somehow sick, not healthy, and highly unlikely to spread any disease.
“the IT systems used at the border were struggling to cope with the number of checks “
this could only be happening on Government systems, must be an “Excel Backend” with one column per entry.
https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/05/excel_england_coronavirus_contact_error/
Millions of people around the world have been ‘grounded’ how can’t they cope!
It’s interesting to see how, with sleight of hand, the government are diverting our attention with vaccine passports on the one hand while they dial down with the reduction in border checks, the abandoning of school bubbles, the NHS app and masks on the other hand, in order to get themselves out of the mess that they have created.
Paul Daniels would be proud of them!
Very observant comment
So no problem getting into the country but try and get into a football match, a nightclub or even a theatre without the right documents and you’re screwed. Sinister very sinister or jab coercion
Fact.. you cannot get on any transport to the UK without a negative test, and the passenger locator form.. which must include details of pre-purchased covid tests for days 2 and 8 of a 10 day quarantine, so this article is bullsh*t..
You can if you are ‘transiting’ which includes up to 24 hours landside of the airport customs. Still needs the locator form but its completed as exemption and you only need the prior antigen test.
I liked the bit where a government spokesman denied the claim. LOL! Vaccine passports were denied too, along with everything this government has said for 18 months.
Tie that in with this:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15614601/covid-testing-firm-dumping-kits/
What could go wrong?