Hardly a ringing endorsement of MAG & Border Force running of Stansted:
Well that depends on whether you just read and accept the journalists view or you read the 54 page inspection report. I am not saying everything is rosy at boarder control but the David Hencke has clearly spun the facts to suit his opinion and to “sex up” his article, It is perfectly possible the mainstream media did not run the story because it was not news worth enough. The piece on the “duty free scam” was buried in the report and it does say there was no evidence found that it is happening. Much more worrying, in my view, but ignored in the article was the complaint by the Boarder Force staff that a single floor walker was not enough to cover the safeguarding issues around 12-17 year olds using the e-gates. I would have expected Border Force to have national guidelines in this area which the inspection report could have verified were or were not adhered to and that if I am honest is the biggest worry for me. There do not seem to be any guidelines or mandatory targets set by Boarder Force nationally that Stansted have to adhere to and if they are then the inspection report does not mention them which makes it a poor report.
One sentence says Staff at Stansted told inspectors that without the e-Passport gates Stansted would “fall over”. Of course it would fall over if the e-gates failed. If the airport could operate just as well if the e-gates failed, then they were a poor investment choice.