Even were they to have "known this would happen" when they opened Pandoras Box, and I am still arguing that it did not become "known" until a fair way through the process, (I said earlier there are still a large number of unforeseen wrinkles bubbling to the surface) in the absence of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the reply from Government would have been the same.
"We have made a committment to the travelling and set a date, it is not negotiable."
It explains, but still won't and doesn't excuse the mess.
The agencies are run ragged to try and meet the unrealistic and arbitrary political timescale.
We (and
everybody who steps onto an airport) are being told to compy (under penalty of fines or possible incarceration) with vaguely worded directives, and in-effect, are being told to find out for ourselves exactly what we should be complying with.
I can appreciate the scale and amount of work going on behind the scenes, but if the governments desired goal is
so important, then it required much better preparation before implementation, or else a reevaluation of the implementation and timescale is required yesterday.
but a reevaluation won't happen because it'd embarrass or humiliate the politicians.