AIBU to think this is just wrong?

[Cooki3Monst3r]

So, DH, me, DD 4yo and DD 2yo are on the way to France, about to take the Euro Tunnel.

We're white. We're mid 30s. We're driving a Range Rover and we're rammed to the roof with bags.

Yes, we look like an average harmless family going on holiday.

But does that really mean it's OK for Passport Control to wave us on without seeing our passports?

This was on the UK side. "Oh, they clearly couldn't give a flying fuck who they let in to a tunnel under the sea with hundreds of other people, and out in to wider Europe." I thought.

"No worries, I'm sure the French won't let us in without seeing our passports." I said to DH.

Nope, no passport control on that side.

There are several reasons why this is upsetting me.

1. I just paid a bloody fortune for 3 new passports for me and DCs. If the same happens on the way back, I needn't have bothered.

2. I can't help but think if I was a black 20yo male, or a middled aged middle-eastern man with a beard and a backpack on the passenger seat, or wearing a burka, I would have been stopped. Maybe that's my own subconscious racism coming out. I don't know.

3. I had two kids in the car!!! Those passport control guys had no idea whether those children were mine!!!! So any fucker can apparently take my kids abroad!! I do not like this one little bit.

4. There were several people in the passport kiosk. It was a quiet day and no one was immediately behind us. What the hell else did they have to do other than check our passports??

AIBU to be deeply concerned about this?

What is it that actually bothers you? That border control is lax (it's not), or that you're too rich and white to bother with (you are), why do these things bother you, is it really so outre that you should be waved through without so much as a second glance? Do you want to be strip searched? I can tell you it's not fun. Save your concern for things that actually matter.

Pre children DH and I used to do booze runs to Boulogne quite often. We never got checked.
One time we took a friend. He's 6 foot 4 and at the time was bearded and dodgy looking! We got stopped leaving the UK, full on search of the car, all stuff taken out, cover over the spare tyre lifted up.
Going into France we were ignored.
Leaving France we were ignored.
Coming back into the UK we were searched again!

About the racoal profiling thing. It makes sense; border control pfficers cannot stop everyone, but they are more likely to stop people who fit in the racial/behaviuoral profile of the majproty pf terrorists. It's not racism,,it's logic.
Would I be outraged if I fit in the profile of terrorists and got stopped? No? I'd think officers were doing their job.

I was pretty bemused on my last return ferry crossing. They 'randomly' selected all of the blue cars (still, I guess it works as a more random criteria). But they'll surely not have a 'generic silver' car day

Oops, Threads I'm On has shown me I've posted on the wrong thread. Sorry!

When we went to France last year on the Ferry we had all 4 passports taken and 'checked'. On the France side, it was a proper check..they asked us to roll down the back windows so they could have a good look at the dc.

On the UK side, they took all 4 passports, and scrutinised dh and me against the passport pics. Both ds were sleeping in the back, heads down, we have darkened windows, and it 6am and only just getting light. It was impossible to tell even their gender or age never mind anything else. They weren't concerned at all, didn't bother with seeing the dc to see if they were the same kids we have passports for.

It IS concerning to know that we could have had any kids in the back and it wasn't even checked.

I think passport checks are random (no personal experience of the Euro Tunnel) and not based purely on appearances.

I lived on mainland Europe and my passport wasn't checked when travelling between different countries by train, but it didn't bother me.

I travel between the UK and Switzerland with my dc regularly, and I've noticed a tightening of security in relation to the dc in the last 18 months. Passport control officials make eye contact with each child and address them by name.

I find it reassuring, but I wonder if there was an incident that triggered the change.

They checked our passports quickly and asked to look at the children to compare both ways when we last went to France (2yrs ago). We're white british Middle class types too.

When I flew to Kosova with a baby five years ago they made everyone take off their shoes and did thorough checks. Everyone except me who had a seven week old in a sling. The one person who could have something tucked away easily and they didn't bother. I am grateful they didn't though selfishly

The real issue here, is you have absolutely no idea how much work has gone on before you entered the tunnel.

Like ducks paddling, 80% of immigration and customs work goes on unseen.

The second you booked your ticket (with your passport, remember) border control knew you were coming. So unless your record indicates you are worth checking, why waste time with you.

Funnily enough, returning to the UK last week, I had my passport checked for the first time in a decade. But that was only because MrsLH made a joke about how much weight I'd lost .

Sorry if it's a grim thought, but the bottom line is you will never have 100% security, so really it's a question of where you allow the line between security and convenience to be drawn. You could go towards a system where every single passenger is checked. Every vehicle searched. But then you'd have to accept

1. The massive increase in costs (to you) of travel
2. The need to add 49 hours to your trip (24 each end)
3. The fact that increasing the number of staff required to do all this checking will inevitably decrease the trust we can have in each employee - much easier to plant an agent in 10,000 than 100

To be honest, a lot of airport security is theatre, nothing more. It does absolutely nothing to prevent an organised prepared attack, and just makes the average traveller feel warm and fuzzy. And sadly, as 7/7 showed, it's possible to inflict terrible damage without needing to be at an airport .

I'm white but have been pulled out of the queue for extra checks quite a few times, like TheChandler. In my case, it's because I look Irish so I've been told.

We went to France last year (me, Dh, Dd13, Dd9 and mil) with the car on the ferry.
No one bothered to check our passports or even give us more than a passing glance on the way out. I was shocked and hoped they wouldn't be so lax on the way home.

Thankfully, I wasn't disappointed. They thoroughly checked our passports and scrutinised each of us in turn (including dc) on the way back into the UK (despite the fact that we are white middle class types too).

recall that's a bit of an odd comment. How is this a "stealth range rover" brag - and what on earth is there to brag about? It's a car. It was 4 wheels. It moves. I fell out of it last week in Morrison's carpark because I'm only 5ft and I missed the step. I'm really not in to thinking about cars as anything other than modes of transport. Anyway... it could be bloody 20 years old or brand new for all you know! Perhaps this means more to you than it does to me?

My point was, they looked at us and made a decision not to check us. All they had to go on to make that decision was what they could see. All they could see was us and our car.

Spartak that's exactly what happened to us in the end. I get what previous posters further up thread were saying now about the 'slackness' (if there is any) being with the French side.

HoVis

Hound Defo bland. Sadly not rich. I actually think border control is something worth worrying about. On the way back the A16 was swarming with a couple of dozen men running inbetween lorries, standing at the side of the road. This did make me realise that border control clearly have bigger fish to fry than worrying about me. I haven't travelled through the tunnel for years so I was just shocked, that's all. I just thought it was standard that everyone got checked. Clearly not.

Original exactly!! But I guess no enough children get abducted through Europe for it to be worth them checking everyone.

Lurking all good points. Someone else mentioned they checked us out before we travel. Although DH booked tickets and apparently didn't give passport numbers. I might be wrong about that but definitely not mine and DCs anyway. I guess they assume he's OK so we are too.

Magnets what does 'Irish' look like??