This is a request for advice regarding an extremely unfortunate set of circumstances that led to a situation at London Stansted on Thursday April 18 and Friday April 19 (in the early hours of yesterday morning). I am a South African national, Dutch residence card holder who requires a visa when transiting through the UK. I was detained and deported from London Stansted on the night of Thursday April 18 and sent back to my port of departure (Eindhoven, Netherlands) in the early morning hours of April 19, Good Friday.
I hold a full Dutch residence permit, and was travelling to Dublin, Ireland. My original flight was a direct Eindhoven - Dublin trip, but due to overbooking on the Airline (which I won't name at this point), I was denied boarding and given a rerouting free of charge through Stansted. Upon being given this routing, I asked to check if I was allowed to travel without a UK visa through Stansted. I was told yes from the Airline customer service, and that I could follow up with both Airport and Airline officials at Eindhoven when I arrived at EIN airport.Upon arrival at the airport, I insisted that Eindhoven officials call the Airline Immigration office to check the route was compatible with my travel documents. They did, and were told by the immigration manager there (of the Airline), that I was okay to board.
This information was incorrect. I boarded the flight and was assured everything was okay. Upon arrival at Stansted, I was detained for 15 hours, interviewed, all belongings searched, my biometrics were taken, my photograph was taken, and then I was deported, and given a refusal-of-entry stamp on my passport.
I have gone back to Eindhoven and collected all the information to build a case against the Airline (and their immigration department in particular) for giving incorrect travel advice to Eindhoven airport officials, and by extension assuring me that it was okay to board when in fact I had absolutely no entry clearance whatsoever. I have contacted the South African embassy in the Hague. I have not received response yet, but hope they will stand by me and support me in this fiasco. I don't know what the consequences are of having a denial-of-entry stamp but it was completely not my fault. In fact, when I got back to Eindhoven, I insisted that an official there call English Immigration directly to confirm that I should never have been given the green light to board by the Airline Immigration officials (or re-routed via Stansted in the first place by the Airline). English immigration confirmed that Airline Immigration acted in error.
I have documents proving the advice that was given to Eindhoven airport officials. I also have documents proving that Eindhoven supplied all necessary and complete information to the Airline before a decision was made. I have the name of the Airline immigration manager who gave the go-ahead, I have the boarding pass that clearly states: "OK TO BOARD" and I have the internal documents that state "CALLD IMMIGRATION. SOUTH AFRICAN PP WITH DUTCH RESIDENCE CARD -- OK TO STANSTED".
I did not leave that airport until I had acquired scans of every document I could. I have scans of all internal documents with respect to my trip. I even have an email sent from the Airline Immigration Manager to the Manager of the Visa Check at the Airport saying "Yes he can travel without a visa through UK if he has Dutch residence card hence my advice yesterday." --> which is false.
At this point, I have taken the following steps:
Made an official, strongly worded complaint to the Airline (and attached a name of a customer service rep who I spoke with for easier follow up)
I have contacted my embassy
I have contacted the British Home Office who runs the border force that detained me. Not with a complaint, but simply an explanation of what happened and why I was there, similar to above)
I have also sent a strongly worded complaint to the Airport, strategically knowing that the Airport will likely shift blame to the Airline when they see the docs and add pressure.
Besides the awful experience of being detained, questioned, and treated with a great deal of suspicion, I have also completely lost the entire Easter Weekend holiday I have been planning with my (Irish) girlfriend for months. From the Airline's side, this is approaching professional negligence and I will pursue them as much as is humanly possible. I should never have been re-routed via Stansted, and I should never have been given an explicit green light to board (after asking multiple times and making calls to Airline immigration, and having been assured of my correctness in boarding).
Is there anything else I can do? Thanks for reading.
Written By: EmiliaClarkeGG
Source: http://bit.ly/2KPLImd
No comments:
Post a Comment