I queried the supervisor yesterday about this new procedure and was told it had been in effect for the past year (??!!), however, this was the first time I had been asked to show my passport to proceed onwards from the security area to the duty-free free-for-all area - and I've passed through major UK airports numerous times over the past year. So it looks like the "on-again-off-again" checks are "on-again".
However, the person that looked through my passport was merely going through the motions (and they DID look like a social worker, I must add...but who gives a rats what they wear...). More importantly, I have many interesting non-standard visas, etc, yet the pages were flipped so fast, the bored scrutinizer could have very well been looking through an animated "flip book"!
IF it accomplished something, maybe it would be an agreeable new procedure. However, it looks like it is yet another grand waste of H.M.'s taxes...
Mind you, it was funny to watch a Mr. Harvinder try to weasel around the queue, and try to use a vain excuse only to be put in place by the said supervisor. GET TO THE BACK OF THE QUEUE, doofus!!
Cheers,
R.D.