Aberdeen to Leeds - 92 year old veteran needs a passport

[ricardian]

Charles Crowther needs a passport to attend the event at Leeds Bradford Airport - but does not have one. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-22091644)

[Wensleydale]

It is a problem for many old people - my 87 year-old father needed to prove his ID in the branch of the bank that he has been using for over 70 years and as he has neither a passport nor a current driving license then it took the personal intervention of the manager to allow his Blue Badge parking permit to be used (the only photo ID that he possesses).

The problem is that only these two forms of ID are currently accepted by most organisations these days (the day of accepting an RAF ID Card as proof of identity in banks etc are long gone) because the employee has to follow the rules without exception. I am sure that some-one with sufficient authority at Leeds Bradford will see common sense, but an employee's job could be at risk if they broke the rules without permission from above.

[StopStart]

He'll get nowhere against the autobots of Airport Security. Without doubt they are the worst thing about civil aviation. :ugh:

[500N]

"autobots of Airport Security"

I like that :ok:

Sums them up perfectly.

[aspinwing]

The lunatics are running the asylum. :ugh:

[Duncan D'Sorderlee]

Can someone not just fly him to LBA in a light ac - is there a fg club there? - and keep him airside.

Duncs:ok:

[Pontius Navigator]

I bet he didn't need a passport 70 years ago.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Yes, but German 'airport security' shot him down then.

[Tankertrashnav]

A jobsworth for Leeds Bradford said: "There are strict guidelines governing the issue of visitor passes. One element is an official form of identification.
"Both Leeds Bradford and the Association have tried to assist the family in obtaining the required documents."

Amended the above quotation in the interests of accuracy :*

[sycamore]

Mr Crowther is 99 according to the headline,and it was his brother that was shot down.If he was flying from Aberdeen to LBA and back he would need a passport,but it would seem that nobody has the balls to make a decision,and an exception to the `rules`.It should not be too difficult to provide an `escort`,even a hi-vis jacket with lights,in case he gets too frisky..
A sad reflection on those in `Authority` who can`t show some common sense,and a bit of curtesy and respect for those who gave them `freedom`....

[OffshoreSLF]

I believe it's now sorted, according to the BBC Scottish news this evening.

BBC News - Aberdeenshire Veteran can attend WW2 memorial (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-22091644)

[Background Noise]

That link now says he can go. He could have a free passport at his age.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

so all security policy is now decided on the basis of media embarrassment?

at what point did PR become the be-all-and-end-all? I've a good mind to write to the PM about........HANG ON!?:suspect:

[Finningley Boy]

This very strange, I fly up to Scotland often enough. I'm flying up in a couple of weeks and I haven't needed a passport since I allowed it to lapse in 2009. I'm self conscious enough to check each time I book my tickets. I checked again this time and a photo I.D. is all that is sufficient.

FB

[Davef68]

FB - it depends on the airline what sort of photo id is accepted. With easyjet, I've used my Costco card on one occasion, and I've heard of a Cineworld membership card being used. But others are more strict - passport, driving licence of Govt/Forces ID for example.

[smujsmith]

Sorry if maybe I'm over simplifying things, but, can't Cameron just tel em "Let Him In"?

[Bollotom]

On one occasion I got to LHR only to find I had left my passport at home. I told the check-in lady, Aer Lingus, and she asked if I had any other photo ID. On informing her I did have my Freedom Pass she told me that would be fine. :cool:

[Alber Ratman]

I have used my DL to identify myself to fly in the UK for 12 times in the last 6 weeks.. Next week I will have to work airside without a proper airside pass at two different places possibly. That is still in the process of application. Passport will not be enough either. Our old warhorse has it easy, get a passport because he is too old for a driving licence.. It will happen if he asks, why use the rubbish press?? :ooh:

[AlpineSkier]

Our old warhorse has it easy, get a passport because he is too old for a driving licence.. It will happen if he asks, why use the rubbish press??

Because he lost his last one 40 years ago and it will take six weeks to verify and re-issue.

[Tankertrashnav]

But others are more strict - passport, driving licence or Govt/Forces ID for example.


Wouldn't rely on that. Wasn't the station commander of RAF St Mawgan refused boarding on a Ryanair flight to Stanstead when they didn't accept his F1250 as valid ID? A bit rich when it was his runway etc they were using!

[Once A Brat]

I suspect that St Mawgan's Stn Cdr was using a MOD Form 90 not a RAF F1250!!

Another piece of jointery not thought through properly.....the RAF F1250 could be used as official ID since it had a 'tamper proof' signature as well as a photo.......whereas the MOD F90 doesn't and therefore doesn't have to be accepted!!

[ian16th]

The squadron was based at RAF Yeadon, which was on the site of the current airport.Silly question.

Isn't this the wrong way round?

'Leeds/Bradford Airport is built on the site of the former RAF Yeadon, where the squadron was based.'

Surely is the correct terminology?

[PICKS135]

Being a Yorkshireman from the Leeds area. I still call it Yeadon Airport. Non of this PC Leeds / Bradford b**locks.

Its not in Leeds and its not in Bradford :ugh:

[Get me some traffic]

I've always known LBA as the "garden of Yeadon," one very venerable controller used that term when answering the 'phone.

[Whenurhappy]

There is this creaping 'requirement' to have a passport, in part driven by the positive ID requirements of the Proceeds of Crimes Act 2003. Banks and other institutions have interpreted this need to ID customers by passport solely as 'the law'. A few years ago I had an argument with a well-known bank about this requirement. We were overseas and taking out a mortgage in Sterling with our existing bank for a house in Wootton Bassett, as it happened. The bank demanded that we 'surrendered' our passports as proof of ID to ensure that we weren't money-laundering. I refused to hand over my passport - only Police and Immigration officials can request it. I won my argument, especially when I obtained the recording of the calls from the bank which were of a threatening nature. The bank also paid me a substantial ex-gratia payment for 'making it up as they went along'.

Banks only need to be satisfied of the bone fides of the customer. Bearing in mind we had been their customer for 10 years at that point, I felt that they had demonstrated due diligence.

Fast forward a couple of years and we went to sell said house and the Estate agent asked for copies of our passports. I refused and gave her a copy of my council tax bill instead. This, apparently, was most irregular and the agency, part of a well-known chain, started to get rather difficult and quoted the 'law' about having to present a passport. Needless to say I won the argument and the firm agreed to half their commission, as I had caught them out for being thoroughly unprofessional.

In sum, unless you intend to travel to exotic climes, eg France, there is no requirement for British Subjects to have a passport, moreover no requirement to hand it over to those unauthorised to receive it.

[GreenKnight121]

Vas ist los? Show me your paperz, pleas!


Meanwhile, here in the Untied Stakes, we are starting to issue medical ID cards and drivers' licenses to "undocumented immigrants"... people the government knows entered the country in blatant and disdainful violation of immigration laws, and therefore are already criminals.

[diginagain]

You may be thinking of "Ihre Papieren, bitte" spoken by a shifty-looking bloke in a black Fedora and leather trenchcoat.

[Wensleydale]

Now if we had a national ID card system in place......:ugh:

[Herod]

Now if we had a national ID card system in place......

Don't even go there. A few years ago I was helping with remedial reading at the local primary. I already had CRB clearance for another volunteer post, which initially was accepted. However, "the powers" needed another one. I filled in the forms and the School Secretary had sight of my passport, birth certificate and driving licence, all of which she confirmed as valid. The County Education Authority then wanted hard copies of all three. Since I wasn't going to give copies of those documents to anybody, the school lost a volunteer.

My daughter was going to take her son and two friends to an event at another school some two miles away (can some mums help with transport please?), and was asked to provide a copy of her passport. The school authorities and the other mums were surprised when she refused with the words "we're all walking blindfolded into a Police State."

End of rant.....

[DON T]

1978 RAF Uxbridge Sainsburys in the High Street, paying by cheque for a sum of approx £60 with cheque card. 'You must have some other identification.' I offer F1250 and MOD pass. 'Oh, that's no good, haven't you something with your address on it, like library ticket?'

[thing]

The one that really annoys me is buying something trivial from a chain store (Tandy used to do this all of the time) and at the checkout they ask for your address. 'Just for our records'. In other words so they can bombard you with crap. I always refused but have seen people in front of me in the queue give it without question. Why do people do that?

I used to say to the checkout operator that if she gave me her name and address she could have mine. Seemed fair to me.