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| E-borders 'travel chaos' warning | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Britain's ferry ports could be brought to a halt by the government's flagship e-borders scheme, the UK Chamber of Shipping has warned MPs. | Britain's ferry ports could be brought to a halt by the government's flagship e-borders scheme, the UK Chamber of Shipping has warned MPs. |
| Scanning the passports of all car and coach passengers could double waiting times, policy manager Tim Reardon told the home affairs committee. | Scanning the passports of all car and coach passengers could double waiting times, policy manager Tim Reardon told the home affairs committee. |
| Electronic exit and entry controls at UK ports and airports are due to be fully operational by 2014. | Electronic exit and entry controls at UK ports and airports are due to be fully operational by 2014. |
| They allow passports to be checked against an "alert list" in real time. | They allow passports to be checked against an "alert list" in real time. |
| Mr Reardon said passport checks currently took about 20 seconds but under the new system they could take 45 seconds or more. | Mr Reardon said passport checks currently took about 20 seconds but under the new system they could take 45 seconds or more. |
| "That is a significant increase and we don't believe it could be accommodated at peak times... it would be like trying to jam a square peg into a round hole," he told the committee. | "That is a significant increase and we don't believe it could be accommodated at peak times... it would be like trying to jam a square peg into a round hole," he told the committee. |
| He said the shipping industry was working with the Home Office to find a way of speeding the process up. | He said the shipping industry was working with the Home Office to find a way of speeding the process up. |
| But he added: "We are trying to find a way. We haven't yet found one. It is possible there isn't a solution there to be found." | But he added: "We are trying to find a way. We haven't yet found one. It is possible there isn't a solution there to be found." |
| Mr Reardon told the committee the data can not be collected in advance because many people do not book places on ferries - they simply turn up at the port. | |
| He said there would be significant delays when there are vehicles carrying large numbers of people, such as coaches. | |
| And he also raised concerns that the collection of the data before departure from foreign ports may break data protection laws in other countries. |