Banned from flying to funeral of mother
JUNIOR Green broke down in tears as he told how he was forced to miss his mother’s funeral after being banned from returning to Britain.
Mr Green had lived in the UK for 60 years but found himself unable to get back into the country after flying to Jamaica to be with his mother Joyce as she lay dying.
He told BBC Two’s Newsnight: “I’m an Englishman. I’ve had all my education in this country, I’ve worked in this country, I’ve lived in this country.”
Mr Green, who came to Britain in 1956 when he was 15 months old, flew out to Jamaica to be with his mother before she passed away in June last year.
He said: “If I didn’t go, I probably wouldn’t see her alive again. That was a choice I had to make. Mum wins, so I went.”
But on attempting to fly back to Britain, where the funeral was to take place, he was not allowed on the plane.
He insisted he had “all the evidence” to prove his right to live in the UK and did not know why he was stopped from boarding.
Mr Green’s sister Doreen told Newsnight that he had spent months stuck in Jamaica, a country he barely knew.
Doreen said: “I can’t imagine what he has been going through.
“People want assurances they can stay, this is their home.
“We helped England get where it is today, it’s time for England to help us now.”
The matter was finally resolved after Mr Green’s MP Toby Perkins contacted the Home Office.
The Labour MP for Chesterfield described Mr Green’s experience as “inhumane”.
Fellow Windrush victim Winston Walker arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1966 on his father’s passport, aged 18 months.
The 53-year-old, who grew up in Birmingham and now lives in Bristol, ran into difficulty when applying for a provisional driving licence and documents kept getting sent back by the DVLA.
He contacted an MP to help, after which he said he was told he did not “exist on any data in this country”.
Mr Walker said: “I’m as British as anyone. It was frightening. I’ve been schooled here – had the same National Insurance number since I was 16. To be told you don’t exist, it’s overwhelming.”
Mr Walker was able to get a resident’s permit but that does not make him a British citizen.
The Home Office said “the vast majority” of people would have documentation that proved they had the right to be here.
A spokesman added: “For those that don’t, we have established a new dedicated team to ensure this is resolved as soon as possible.”