Airports to face fines if passengers miss border controls
Crackdown over blunders that may have let thousands into UK unchecked
AIRPORT blunders have potentially allowed thousands of passengers into Britain without passing through immigration checks, Home Office figures suggest.
Airlines and airports could now face fines of up to £50,000 if passengers are able to bypass border control as part of a proposed government crackdown.
Ministers are consulting on a new civil penalty regime designed to stop travellers being “misdirected” when they arrive, amid concerns it is undermining the integrity of the UK’S border.
The problem has been blamed on human errors such as incorrect doors being opened at arrival gates or passengers being directed to the wrong place on arrival.
Just under 1,000 passengers were not brought to immigration control in 2014 due to airport operator or carrier error. That is likely to spark concerns regarding airport border security levels in other years.
The Government is hoping its plan to fine airports and airlines with lax controls will remedy the situation but the Airport Operators Association (AOA) said the proposal is “disproportionate”.
A spokesman for the AOA stressed that border security is a “top priority”. He said: “That is clear from the fact that a tiny fraction of the 268 million passengers travelling through airports yearly are misdirected and the fact that the number of incidents has come down in recent years. We are committed to working with airlines, ground handlers and Border Force to continue to improve on this excellent record. We do not believe the proposed civil penalty should be part of that ongoing work. It is disproportionate, given the numbers of passengers involved and the industry’s track record.”
Passengers arriving on scheduled flights must be directed to the airport’s immigration control to be cleared for entry into the country.
But in a small number of cases this does not happen.
The power to levy a penalty was set out in the Immigration Act 2016. However, the way in which the scheme will work was only outlined in a little-noticed consultation document published by the Government at the end of last year. Brandon Lewis, the Immigration Minister, said in the foreword to it that the Government recognised this is “not a problem of deliberate attempt to circumvent immigration control”.
But he added: “By creating circumstances in which passengers can bypass immigration controls, the integrity of the UK’S border is undermined. Border Force takes recovery action to locate the passengers and undertakes checks retrospectively, creating considerable extra work.”
Airport operators could be penalised for any misdirection of a passenger or passengers “where reasonable steps have not been taken to avoid it”. Fines could range from £2,500 to £50,000.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are determined to eradicate these errors and believe that a civil penalty is a vital tool in ensuring that this happens.”