POSSIBLE CHAOS FOR EXTER, NEWQUAY AND PLYMOUTH AIRPORTS
February 9, 2007 11:01 AM
Nick Harvey has mounting concerns that the new ePassport intended to help the war on terror, may cause chaos with holidaymakers and business travellers. 'The fact that there are now four million ePassports in circulation,' says Nick Harvey, 'using an unproven technology it is a cause for some concern.'
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate only started testing to see if the electronic scanners could deal with high volumes of ePassports last November and as a result scanners have yet to be installed at all the UK's ports of entry. 'A major worry is that our regional airports and ports will not be able to cope with this technology by the summer,' adds Nick Harvey. 'The visible lack of coordination between the Passport Agency and Immigration has not helped either over the issue of border controls.'
The Passport Agency began switching from digital to ePassports with projected costs of almost £260m, after it invoked an exemption from procurement regulations on security grounds. The net result was that ePassport production was not put out to competitive tender and the Passport Agency spent almost £5m of taxpayers money on consultants. Notably you now must have an ePassport or a Machine Readable Passport to travel to the US without a visa if your passport was issued on or after 26 October 2006.
'What is potentially worrying for us all,' adds Nick Harvey, 'is that no one knows how well ePassport chips will cope with everyday wear and tear, in addition they only have a two year warranty whereas the passport is supposed to last 10 years. Travellers need to be reassured they won't end up stranded.'
Following a recent National Audit Office report it emerged that the data on the ePassport chip is vulnerable to hackers and has an indeterminate shelf life. The Passport Agency state they are taking steps to prevent the chip being cloned and intend to incorporate fingerprint data. 'The tender for the new contract for ePassport production will begin in three years time, in the meantime all these problems do not bode well,' concludes Nick Harvey 'for holidaymakers and international travellers.'
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats