Luxury train operator cuts service ahead of
biometric passport checks so passengers will have to join train in Paris...The coach transfer creates an unacceptable risk for Belmond, as there is no way for their passengers to avoid
delays crossing the Channel. Travellers, including school coach parties, had to wait up to 14 hours at Dover at the beginning of the Easter holidays two weeks ago, and people also faced queues for Le Shuttle.
Things may get worse, Belmond fears, because the UK and EU are planning new biometric passport checks and extra red tape.
The EU is introducing a new biometric Entry/Exit System (EES), which will mean most people travelling across the Channel who do not have EU residency will need to provide fingerprints and facial recognition data when they cross the border, instead of having their passports stamped.
And soon the EU and the UK will be making travellers submit pre-travel authorisation forms similar to the United States’ Esta scheme. British travellers will pay €7 to give European authorities personal information not on their passports – such as criminal convictions, education and parents’ first names – under Etias, the European Travel Information and Authorisation System. European travellers will provide similar details to the British government for the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (Eta) programme, although Whitehall has yet to set a fee for it.
Brexit has ended other train journeys as well – Eurostar’s service from St Pancras to Disneyland Paris will
finish this summer.
“It was made perfectly clear in 2018 that a hard Brexit would mean UK citizens would have to have their passports checked. This is really Brexit biting everyone on the backside.”
RealNews@theGuardain
This biometric scheme is about to invade all our lives, in all kinds o' weird ways.
