Bloody immigrants! I blame old IT contractors....

[Bunk]

it's the customs equivalent of the eternally opened terminal emulator on a contractor's screen.

I even fired up MySQL and ran a couple of queries to fill the screen up

[MaryPoppins]

We didn't have a long wait at Brum Airport the other day - what really p'd me off was the Border Control bint asking my eldest son "Who are the adults you are travelling with?". Being a smart-arsed 12 year old he replied "I've never seen them before in my life!". Then she proceeded to ask my youngest (5) what his name was. She got even pissier when he gave her his 'short' name instead of the one printed in his passport.

There's nothing like being treated as a potential child smuggler when you're coming home from your hols.

When my son & I returned from hols this year, I was surprised by the amount of time it took to get an Ok from passport control. She asked my son his name and he refused to answer. He was 4 yrs old, tired, and shy with strangers. She asked him where his mummy was and he continued to hide his face in my neck. She then asked a great deal of questions of me, focused mainly on why we were travelling alone [which we weren't]. It felt embarrassing, but I was quite chuffed to see how thorough she was.

[Troll]

That's for over 18's only - so I suupose my wife and I could have gone that way, leaving the kids to queue.

Just read up on the rules - didn't realise that even babies need their own passports !!

[Troll]

When my son & I returned from hols this year, I was surprised by the amount of time it took to get an Ok from passport control. She asked my son his name and he refused to answer. He was 4 yrs old, tired, and shy with strangers. She asked him where his mummy was and he continued to hide his face in my neck. She then asked a great deal of questions of me, focused mainly on why we were travelling alone [which we weren't]. It felt embarrassing, but I was quite chuffed to see how thorough she was.

I'd be soooo tempted not to lift the child up and make the officious twot crane his/her neck over the booth to interrogate the child

[MaryPoppins]

Just read up on the rules - didn't realise that even babies need their own passports !!

I thought you had kids?

I think they last for something like 5 years. Which is bizarre, I think; not many revolting looking newborns resemble their 5 year old selves.

[MaryPoppins]

I'd be soooo tempted not to lift the child up and make the officious twot crane his/her neck over the booth to interrogate the child

I was already carrying him [as well as two set of hand luggage ]. She was perfectly polite and I have to say, it didn't irk me. If she was suspicious, she needed to check.

I'm just incredibly glad I decided to give my son my surname.

[AtW]

Okay, who worked on this crock?

Just how fooking hard is it to have a database with a few millions rows that can be looked up quickly at the border control?!?! Unless they run it on DBASE ][ from early 90s, or maybe it was done in Access

[Mich the Tester]

The trouble is, the Great British public have apparently asked for all this hassle. Constant whining about immigrants and asylum seekers has given politicians cause to hire thousands of new civil servants (or outsource them to keep them off the government payroll) to man the borders, and it's not just Britain, but all of Europe. It's a fine example of what happens when you ask the government to solve your problems, whether those problems are real or percieved; a lot of money gets spent on useless twunts who hassle law abiding people for no good reason, except that the law abiding people have asked fot it. That's not to say you don't need good border controls, but I think all this hassle is something that voters have chosen.

[Troll]

I thought you had kids?

I think they last for something like 5 years. Which is bizarre, I think; not many revolting looking newborns resemble their 5 year old selves.

They travelled on our passports when they were babies!

[Wanderer]

I think they last for something like 5 years. Which is bizarre, I think; not many revolting looking newborns resemble their 5 year old selves.

I've seen a child who had a 10 year passport (non UK) issued when he was 9 months old. Immigration didn't seem bothered about it and the child was still recognisable from the baby photo.

I think the law is now changed so children can only get 5 year passports.