Bristol: Airport Security, Immigration & Border Control

[Aviador]

It amazes me to think how low people will sink for what isn't even a massive amount of money. I can't believe he thought he's actually get away with it at an airport considering the amount of CCTV coverage there must be. Silly man.

 

[Aviador]

A Thomson Airways Boeing 757 has diverted into Athens after the airline recieved a bomb warning. The flight was en route to SSH.

 

[News Guru]

Cigarette smuggler jailed

A man has been jailed after smuggling duty free cigarettes through Bristol Airport using false boarding cards to evade £70,000 in excise duty.

Simon Evans, aged 50, a property landlord of Heol Y Bryn, Rhiwbina in Cardiff, used false boarding cards to purchase duty free goods at Bristol Airport between January 2004 and October 2009. He checked in for a flights, typically with a budget airline, then bought duty free cigarettes before leaving the airport without taking the flight.

Mr Evans pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court last week to smuggling goods on 52 occasions and to using fraudulent boarding passes. He was jailed for 12 months and confiscation proceedings to recover the lost duty are ongoing.

Source

 

[News Guru]

New virtual assistants at Bristol Airport

Bristol Airport now has three Virtual Assistants, one of a series of initiatives aimed as simplifying the security process. The assistants use audio visual-technology to communicate with passengers while they pass through the security area and immigration hall.

The airport expects the technology to help reduce waiting and queuing times. Philip Holder from Bristol Airport said: ‘We wanted to enhance the experience for customers whilst in security and immigration. For many passengers liquid restrictions or use of Immigration e-gates can be confusing. Our Virtual Assistants use state-of-the-art audio visual technology to give guidance and reassurance to our customers at the most critical times.’

The Virtual Assistants are already being used at Luton and Birmingham airports.

Source

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Occupy protester 'banned' from flight home for Christmas

A member of the Occupy London protests was stopped from boarding his flight home for Christmas after he was found carrying anarchist literature, it has been claimed.

The demonstrator, who is part of the group occupying the empty UBS building dubbed the "Bank of Ideas", said he was told he would not be allowed on the Ryanair flight to Malaga because the pilot feared he might distribute leaflets and "upset other passengers".

John Charles Culatto, 34, claimed he was approached by police at Bristol International Airport who told him they had seen him "acting suspiciously" on the airport's CCTV system when he stopped to talk to fellow travellers.

He said he went to airport security an hour before his flight was due to depart, where staff found posters in his bag linked to the anarchist group Crimethinc and refused to allow him through until they had contacted the airline. He claimed he overheard security staff who were examining his luggage using the word "terrorism".

Full article at http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/new ... 82555.html

I've read a number of reports about this incident and it seems the real reason was that the airport authorities believed that the man might try to distribute leaflets in the departure lounge. According to a BRS spokeswoman this is not allowed without permission whatever the content of the leaflets.

Ryanair seems to be distancing itself from the entire incident as do the Police.

Bristol can't get away from these Occupy people. An Occupy Bristol group has been in situ on the green outside the cathedral and council house (council HQ) since early October with 50 tents and shacks and won't move. They've ruined the green which allegedly will cost £100,000 to reinstate when they do leave.

 

[Aviador]

Basically he's a swampy with no real reason to be at the airport. That's as good as any reason to eject him from the building.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Bristol Airport provides additional jobs in 2012

75 staff required as part of improvements to customer experience

Bristol Airport is preparing for a busy year ahead by recruiting 75 permanent staff to work in the terminal building.

A flight programme which could see passenger numbers increase year on year, coupled with the introduction of two new passenger search channels to increase efficiency of the security process, means security provider, ICTS, is searching for candidates to join its 200-strong team at Bristol Airport in 2012.

Full link: http://www.bristolairport.co.uk/news-an ... -jobs.aspx

Bristol doesn't stand still when it comes to security. A few years ago the airport underwent a multi-million security revamp that increased the number of search channels and is now increasing again.

It can still become congested at times though in fairness my last two experiences were good and they were at fairly busy periods of the day.

 

[News Guru]

Pilots and passengers in laser pen danger

MORE and more incidents are being reported where people are targeting aircraft with laser pens as they make their approach into Bristol Airport.

A man has been jailed for shining a laser pen at a police helicopter in Weston in an act the Crown Prosecution Service says has become ‘increasingly prevalent’ in the area.

Alexander Nicholls, aged 23, of Clifton Road, Weston, was jailed for six months when he appeared at North Somerset Courthouse on July 9, after admitting shining the laser pen at the Avon & Somerset Constabulary helicopter when it was hovering over the resort on May 12.

Read more: http://www.thewestonmercury.co.uk/news/ ... _1_1449303

 

[TheLocalYokel]

UK Airport Hosts Successful Test of Infrared Full Body Scanner

In a recent trial, a UK airport successfully tested a full body scanner for passenger screening manufactured by a Massachusetts company that relies upon infrared rather than X-ray or radio energy.

Bristol Airport in England tested the Iscon Video Imaging Mini-Portal body scanner in a five-day test, finding it an effective alternative to conducting pat-downs on air travelers to search for concealed contraband.

Full body scanners actively in use in US and European airports currently use millimeter-wave radio scans primarily to detect hidden objects on travelers. The United States also relies upon some scanners that use backscatter X-ray imaging, which has stirred controversy about the technology's potential health effects on passengers.

Full report at: http://www.hstoday.us/briefings/industr ... 3ad98.html

Interesting in that this system does not reduce the person being searched to a naked image on the screen, something that many people find uncomfortable.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

NATO Summit Newport

I was around BRS today and was struck by the substantial police presence outside the terminal, on the approach roads and on the roads and lanes around the airport. The lane that is popular with spotters at the western end of the airfield has been closed.

I noted vehicles and officers from the Met, City of London, Sussex and a Welsh Force as well as local officers. It might strike some as odd that the local force (Avon & Somerset) has sent some of its officers to South Wales whilst at the same time officers from outside forces have been drafted into the Bristol area. Local knowledge might be thought to be beneficial.

Lots of police officers around the city too including some from outside forces. Although the summit is Wales-based numerous delegates, staff and the world's press will be based in the West Country as South Wales is full.

When it's all over it will be interesting to learn (if we are told that is) how and where President Obama arrived.

 

[superking]

NATO Summit Newport

I was around BRS today and was struck by the substantial police presence outside the terminal, on the approach roads and on the roads and lanes around the airport. The lane that is popular with spotters at the western end of the airfield has been closed.

I noted vehicles and officers from the Met, City of London, Sussex and a Welsh Force as well as local officers. It might strike some as odd that the local force (Avon & Somerset) has sent some of its officers to South Wales whilst at the same time officers from outside forces have been drafted into the Bristol area. Local knowledge might be thought to be beneficial.

Lots of police officers around the city too including some from outside forces. Although the summit is Wales-based numerous delegates, staff and the world's press will be based in the West Country as South Wales is full.

When it's all over it will be interesting to learn (if we are told that is) how and where President Obama arrived.

Also how much is it costing, when not enough rescources to cover every day incidents.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Also how much is it costing, when not enough rescources to cover every day incidents.

That's true. I hope the government and not the local taxpayers is footing the security bill although in the end the government has no money of its own and we taxpayers have to stump up whether income tax or council tax.

Hoteliers are no doubt very happy and the Wales Assembly Government believes it will help to put Wales on the world map although a local professor normally very supportive of both Welsh economic aspirations and CWL isn't so sure that it necessarily will.

It's certainly upsetting a lot of local residents and in the Bristol area it's nothing compared to the inconvenience experienced by people in Cardiff, Newport and the surrounding areas.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

When it's all over it will be interesting to learn (if we are told that is) how and where President Obama arrived.

He arrived this evening at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire according to the local Tv News and will fly out from there at the end of the Summit. He will fly on to South Wales by helicopter.

There was an item on the local telly news today featuring the BRS head of security. A lot of diplomats and others attending the Summit will be flying into BRS on both scheduled airlines and private aircraft. They are being processed through the old terminal in what looks like the new concourse cafe (it looks an impressive lounge type facility) that was mentioned recently in the BRS Infrastructure & Developments thread.

I believe the tv report mentioned 1,000 inbound passengers for the Summit through BRS.

 

[kraktoa]

The company that built the concourse cafe and fitted it with Aviation themed furniture has fabulous photos on twitter if you search for Bristol airport. looks very impressive. Seating includes real fuselage, lighting is wing panels, front desks are engine cowlings. Superb fittings

 

[TheLocalYokel]

There were some shots of the concourse cafe on the local telly news when the 'Bigwigs' arrived for NATO and it certainly looked impressive. Perhaps the airport might consider a similar venture in the public areas of the main terminal.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

I travelled along the A 38 this week and noticed that around half a dozen laybys and pull-ins often used by motorists to wait for incoming passengers before driving into the airport have now been blocked by the positioning of Police no-parking cones. Patrolling police officers invariably stopped their vehicle to move on the parking motorists anyway so if the no-parking cones are to be a permanent feature one wonders why they weren't utilised in the past.

It seems to have followed on from the security arrangements made at the airport in connection with the recent NATO summit at Newport.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Reading BRS Twitter feeds, a regular moan from punters concerns inadequate numbers of Border Agency staff at busy times, with the punters pointing at the airport for this deficiency (understandably as most would not know how airports function). It's happened again in the past couple of days.

I'm always surprised that the BRS Twitter reply seems to take it on the chin with no attempt to point out that BRS (like all UK airports) is entirely in the hands of this government agency as to how many staff they field at any one time, with the airport having no control whatsoever on manning levels.

 

[kraktoa]

The airport has to take it on the chin as it is a problem largely of their own making. When 12 flights land in an hour during the peak periods and there are only half a dozen immigration desks then passengers have to queue for upto an hour even if all desks are manned. The problem is worsened because the tiny arrivals hallway cannot hold all these psssengers so they are forced to wait in the two walkways, western and eastern for upto 30 mins before they are allowed into the arrivals hall. Budget airlines with tight turn around times just spill the passengers out of the planes....let them wait in the walkways. In times gone by if there were delays foreseen atleast paxs could wait in the planes. Not any more.
Due to H&S reasons passengers are not allowed to wait in the stairway leading to the hall. Guess what....they have not revamped that bottleneck this year either.

It all boils down to the number of planes parked overnight. They all want to fly out at dawn, hence the morning rush between 6-9 am. They all comeback around the same time hence the peak in the afternoon. Then a second rush to get out and they all flood back between 10-12 pm. Immigration authorities cannot be blamed for the airports flight time tables that create these peaks.

The airport recognises that if there were 25 desks then the waiting times would be reduced. They have only 6 desks and 3 gates. They never catered for returning passengers as they were never a revenue stream. There is no money to be made from them. So give them the smallest space and charge them for trolleys. In twitter responses the airport always makes a big play of forthcoming expansion and increase in desks.

 

[tpm]

I've been caught in this situation a few times as well. They would basically stop people upstairs in the walkways and only let them go down into the immigration hall once there's space again. Plus no helpful communication about what's happening whatsoever. The problem is not necessarily staffing levels, in my case all positions were staffed, every single time. There is just not enough space for people to queue, too few immigration desks, and the biometric gates are 10x slower than e.g. the gates at Schipol.

Certainly looking forward to the expanded immigration area, whenever it will open.

 

[kraktoa]

I've been caught in this situation a few times as well. They would basically stop people upstairs in the walkways and only let them go down into the immigration hall once there's space again. Plus no helpful communication about what's happening whatsoever. The problem is not necessarily staffing levels, in my case all positions were staffed, every single time. There is just not enough space for people to queue, too few immigration desks, and the biometric gates are 10x slower than e.g. the gates at Schipol.

Certainly looking forward to the expanded immigration area, whenever it will open.

Sadly the immigration queuing area wont be expanded. There will be more electronic gates but no new immigration manned desks. Missed opportunity.