[IP] more on more on more on First Hand Experiences at London Gatwick
Begin forwarded message:
From: Denis Russell <D.M.Russell@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 15, 2006 10:56:48 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Kevin Coates <kevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Re: [IP] more on more on First Hand Experiences at London
Gatwick
At 08:02 -0400 12/8/06, David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message:
From: Kevin Coates <kevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: August 12, 2006 6:47:46 AM EDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IP] more on First Hand Experiences at London Gatwick
Dave
My wife travelled on it from London to Brussels on Thursday morning
just as
...
I just booked a Brussels to London ticket for tomorrow (Sunday) and
there are no security warnings on the Eurostar site.
...
One could imagine the possibility of introducing airline-style
security on Eurostar - luggage being checked and travelling
separately, minimal "carriage baggage" in plastic bag, etc, but
consider Le Shuttle (Eurotunnel) - the car transporter between
Folkstone and Calais that has trains each way every 15 mins and
transports cars and lorries and passengers who drive themselves on.
In principle you could separate cars and drivers/passengers, but the
delays in using company drivers to load cars boggles the mind (last
time I used motor-rail across Europe the check-in time was 6 hours,
and getting off takes as long if you are at the back of the queue -
which is one reason I've not used it again).
I had two return trips in June and July this year (before the present
problems), and I was curious about security arrangements. You book a
car "and all passengers" - i.e. they are not listed beforehand. When
I arrived, there were additional cameras to photograph people through
the front window, but back-seat passengers might not even be seen.
There were additional devices that looked underneath the car and
probably photographed it - remember the IRA bombs under cars?
Passport control was a matter of driving up to a window and handing
out a bunch of passports - presumably the staff rely on being able to
see in the car to count the people and see the faces - and I'm sure
they could come out and look if they wanted to. This happened twice,
once out of one country and once into the next 50 metres away.
Security was a separate check, and involved diverting a minority of
cars to an additional check at the discretion of the inspector. I
declared camping gaz (any LPG had to be declared). On one of the four
trips we were asked to step out of the car and the staff scanned it
with what looked like sniffers - presumably explosive and/or gas. The
check on the camping gaz consisted in making sure the 800g canister
was unscrewed from the stove.
Thinking of the opportunity to carry explosive materials and
especially liquids - apart from a tank full of petrol and our camping
gaz, we were two blokes - no families - traveling with a mess (I use
the term advisedly) of camping gear in the back of a medium-sized
estate car. Typically (we were no exception) Brits in cars stock up
on cheap booze in Calais before returning - the limits are 10 litres
of spirit, 100 l of wine, and can't remember how much beer each. Many
people do a "booze run" - big white van does day return crossing to
stock up with booze for four people. Those vans return groaning.
There are special bus trips too.
Liquid volume per vehicle - go figure.
Stopping these folks having access to their liquids while using le
shuttle without completely devastating the business (already
precarious) is quite something to contemplate.
Denis
"Don't be terrorized. They terrorize more of us if they kill some of
us, but the dead are beside the point. If we give in to fear, the
terrorists achieve their goal even if they are arrested. If we refuse
to be terrorized, then they lose -- even if their attacks succeed." -
Bruce Schneier
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