"Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like what I have to say to here be treated as an official complaint please.
I am writing concerning an incident that took place at the passport control as I was boarding Flight FR146 from Berlin Terminal 2 to London Stanstead on Saturday 2nd August at 12.45. I was treated appallingly by a member of staff there.
I'll begin by explaining my situation. I was born in the United Kingdom and am a British citizen. For most of my life I have travelled on a British passport. However in 2019 I was also granted German citizenship and acquired a German passport. My British passport expired in 2022 and I decided not to renew it as that would have cost me money and by now I had a German passport that would give me everything a British passport would.
On day in question there was a man and a woman checking the passports as passengers were going through the gate. I approached the man and showed him my German passport. He looked at it and then asked if I had a British passport. I told him no and he said that I would need to complete an ETA form which I could find on gov.uk . I then went beyond the barrier and proceeded to do this. I put in my nationality as German, and entered my passport details. It then asked me if I had another nationality so I entered United Kingdom. It then said 'You don't need an ETA if you are a British or Irish citizen'. I went back to see him to show him this. He just sent me away and told me to do as he had originally said. Clearly this was both unnecessary and impossible.
After all the passengers had gone through through, I went back again to explain the situation hoping he would listen this time. He asked how could be a British citizen if I didn't have a British passport. I explained as above. He asked if I had any proof i was British citizen. I showed him my UK driving license.
At this point I would have a expecting most people to have acknowledged they had made a slight mistake with their original advice and agreed with me that I didn't need an ETA. But not him. He clearly took this very personally. He asked to see my German Passport again. I gave it to him in good faith - as a public official going about doing his job. He then asked me to go back behind the barrier. At this point I started to think something was wrong. Why was he asking me to go back through the barrier that he had already checked and allowed me through?
He then said three phrases that he repeated often within the next few minutes. 'You are an unruly passenger', 'This is a very sensitive area.' and 'We have our instructions.'
The first of these couldn't be further from the truth. I was polite to him at all times and didn't raise my voice. This despite the provocation of him refusing to return my passport, which he had no right to do. It became clear that his reason for asking me for my passport a second time was to trick me so that he gain some degree of control over me, knowing that I would need it to board my flight. He had no right to do this. All I had done was show him the gov.uk site and what was the official word of the United Kingdom government on whether I needed an ETA.
To the second, I was fully aware it was a sensitive area and conducted myself according.
As to the third of these, of course he would have his instructions to follow. I can only conclude that he hadn't listened to or understood his instructions properly, or his instructions didn't take account of someone in my situation regarding citizenships and passports. Either way he ought to have been prepared to consider what I was showing him - i.e. the word of the United Kingdom government from which his instructions were or ought to have been derived.
I would describe his behaviour as childish, bullying and unworthy of a public servant in such a responsible position. It was unprofessional and verging on the sadistic as he clearly wanted to cause me worry and distress as to whether I would be able to board my flight. He waited until the last people were half way up the stairs boarding the plane outside before he returned my passport. He demanded to see my boarding pass just before doing this and write down my details. This was another calculated attempt to make me feel uncomfortable.
Please reply to me at
[email protected] to first confirm receipt of this message, and then with your findings following further investigation of this matter. Under the circumstances I would expect a personal apology from the person concerned, as well as what action/retraining his employer is proposing to take. Above all I want to be confident that nobody else will ever have to suffer again the way I did for what was no more than pointing out the truth.
Best Regards
Benedict Hirsch"
6 months 30 days 21 hours ago
