Elderly tourists could be spared customs checks to avert queues

THE UK’s Border Force may “wave through” elderly tourists to avoid snaking queues at ports and airports after Brexit, a senior union chief has said.

Lucy Moreton, the general secretary of the Immigration Services Union (ISU), warned that border workers would not be able to cope with an increased workload created by tougher passport controls and intense political pressure to reduce queuing.

This could lead to border officers taking an “intelligence-led” approach to controls where they “wave through” groups of people who were clearly not planning to outstay their visas.

“If it’s a hard Brexit, then Border Force cannot cope. You will not be able to keep the current operating mandate, which is to see everybody,” Ms Moreton told The Sunday Telegraph.

“We could change that and go back to an intelligence-led approach. When there is an entire group of 40 folks wearing matching tops from the same church, or they’re a Japanese tour group, we don’t need to see them.

“That group of octogenarians and nonagenarians coming back on a coach from the D-Day landing site, they are not going to be a problem. You would wave them through.

“If we can go back to that, it might help. But we stepped away from that when Mrs May was home secretary.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We’re committed to ensuring that Border Force has the resources it needs to keep the UK safe and we will never compromise the security of our borders.”