Boarded by UK Border Force

Daydream believer said:
There may be a point here
If you had said "No" when they asked if they could come aboard, what would the reaction be & where would that put them legally?
Is it a bit like the police---they would now need a search warrant?
I note ( having been boarded by customs loads of times abroad) that they always ask if they can come aboard. It has always seemed an odd question as they are coming any way- but can they?
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The UK customs have a right of entry without warrants. Dates from the time when the delay meant the goods could be moved/hidden while the magistrate was woken up.
 
DFL1010 said:
Apart from credit card data, internet tracking, ANPR and average speed cameras, gov't CCTV and microphones, mobile phone tracking...


Now where did I put my tinfoil hat?
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Your hat is in the back of the delorian. Deal in cash only. Internet cafes for going online no need for modern phone malarkey and where a burker
:-)
 
CLB said:
To be fair, there are some ports in the UK like that. Ramgsgate, Dover to name two that are in my neck of the woods. I am sure there are many others around the country.
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Almost any harbour used by commercial vessels will require you to check with the local VTS before entering/leaving. On my trip down the East Coast from Inverness to Titchmarsh Marina, Peterhead and Lowestoft both required it. Some ports actively discourage yachts; for example Fraserborough. My former berth at James Watt Dock Marina on the Clyde had a technical requirement to contact Clydeport VTS, but after doing it a few times, we were informed that they weren't that bothered!
 
DownWest said:
The UK customs have a right of entry without warrants. Dates from the time when the delay meant the goods could be moved/hidden while the magistrate was woken up.
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I don't know if they have resolved the issues but when "Customs & Excise" morphed into the new agencies, the validity of the historical warrants they held and relied on became questionable as "Customs" in the old sense, to whom the warrants specifically applied, ceased to exist...
 
Quiddle said:
Or easier still, realise you don't need a passport to exit or enter Ireland from the UK.;)
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My point being our passports were checked and no doubt logged onto a computer showing as having left England but as yet there is nothing showing us back in we could have sailed into the sunset.
 
classic jenny said:
My point being our passports were checked and no doubt logged onto a computer showing as having left England but as yet there is nothing showing us back in we could have sailed into the sunset.
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I've often wondered about people with dual nationality.
For example, a relative comes to UK on a UK passport but goes home on an Australian one.
Does passport control still think she is somewhere else?
 
DanTribe said:
I've often wondered about people with dual nationality.
For example, a relative comes to UK on a UK passport but goes home on an Australian one.
Does passport control still think she is somewhere else?
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I think there is far too much belief in the Governments ability to track people in and out. I doubt they match people in and out as managing that data would be a huge task that would have minimal accuracy anyway.
 
We were boarded back in 2012 just prior to the London Olympics. We were leaving the Medway and heading up the Thames. I'd seen the mother ship as we'd left the Medway but hadn't thought anything of it. Some 5-10 minutes later SWMBO said we were being followed by a boat full of Ninjas and sure enough, right on our stern, was a black RIB with six guys on board dressed in black from head to foot carrying some rather interesting firepower. Two came aboard and asked a few questions and also asked for our passports which we just happened to have with us. They were both really nice guys and we ended up having quite a laugh with them which was somewhat at odds with their appearance.

Apparently the mothership couldn't catch us, and they couldn't read the name on the stern to call us on the vhf so launched the RIB. Jokingly I asked what if their RIB hadn't caught us. They replied we would have been paid a visit by the helicopter with the snipers on board.
 
Little Grebe said:
About ten years back we were 'stop and searched' by the Met Police while on one of the waiting buoys off St Kats pending the next lock opening.
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We were approached by a police boat on the way in towards St. Kat. It came alongside and the skipper asked permission to come aboard. We wondered what our transgression might be. Turned out he was considering buying a similar boat to ours and wanted the guided tour, which we duly gave him, along with tea and biscuits all round.

I wonder what happened to the customs officer who used to board us occasionally before the Border Force was invented. She was fat and jolly, caused more than a little heeling when she stepped aboard from the launch and, I suspect, enjoyed tea and biscuits with all her visitees. No doubt she knew full well which boats had the best, or were most lavish, with the biccies. They were the ones she really had to keep an eye on.
 
DanTribe said:
I've often wondered about people with dual nationality.
For example, a relative comes to UK on a UK passport but goes home on an Australian one.
Does passport control still think she is somewhere else?
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No, they know!

I check in for a flight to the UK with my Brit Passport (no Brit visa in Aussie passport so wouldn't be allowed on the plane) yet have to show my Aussie passport departing border control in Melbourne, remember to show my boarding pass with my British passport, then show my Brit passport when I get to LHR.

When returning check in at LHR with my Aussie passport (no Aussie visa in Brit passport so wouldn't be allowed on the plane), but have to show the Brit one at Immigration, remember to show my boarding pass with my Aussie passport, then show my Aussie one when I re-enter Mel.

With a 24 flight, Thank Heavens they are different colours!

(Written in Falmouth on my Australian registered yacht but on my British passport!)
 
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HinewaisMan said:
No, they know!

I check in for a flight to the UK with my Brit Passport (no Brit visa in Aussie passport so wouldn't be allowed on the plane) yet have to show my Aussie passport departing border control in Melbourne, remember to show my boarding pass with my British passport, then show my Brit passport when I get to LHR.
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Maybe for non EC residents/nationals it can be a problem but not for us. We've left by boat and flown back and SWMBO has gone one way on her Portuguese ID and the other on UK passport with no queries, several times. Obviously, documents must match airline or ferry booking details.
 
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