Kiltrash
I really doubt it's anything personal, or any exotic diseases or destinations, I suspect it's down to those darned machines and/or your passport.
My success rate when entering the UK at LHR/LGW from Mainland Europe, when off duty and using my chipped passport, was probably less than 50% when the readers were introduced (oh how I miss Iris
). I eventually found removing my (clear) glasses
and also pressing down firmly on the passport page when it was on the machine reader improved matters but I still fail about 10% of the time. BTW if your passport photo page has been creased or folded at some point that can cause problems with the readers, so that might be worth checking.
OTOH when I enter the UK on duty I go through different gates but through the same immigration hall. In those instances my machine readable airline ID has worked 100% of the time, so I certainly suspect my now occasional failures to get in as a "civvy" are down to the machines/passport combination, rather than "Border" wanting to see me personally when I enter the UK..
Is it the Border Agency staff not being able to match the photograph on the passport with the person in the booth transmitted to their TV screen
I may be wrong but I don't think anyone is sitting anywhere remote checking your picture from the booth, I think that's supposed to be an automated process using facial recognition software....and quite possibly therein lies the problem.