Unfortunately, it seems that quite a few Eurostar trains to Brussels now stop at all three stations.
Look at the new timetable from 11 December: the first train is later at 0650 and stops at Ebbsfleet, Ashford, Calais and Lille!
Unfortunately, it seems that quite a few Eurostar trains to Brussels now stop at all three stations.
They don't want asylum, they really want to come in undetected and get jobs illegally, which by all accounts seems dead easy to do..
Doesn't surprise me really, since London and Paris are both major business and leisure destinations, whereas Brussels is more dependent on business and diplomatic trade.
I think Eurostar or indeed DB expanding direct services beyond Brussels will be the key. However, this border issue won't disappear. This could become the Rotterdam, Liege, Brussels, Lille and Calais loopholes!
Of course, this does beg the question, why Britain for illegal jobs?
Quite. Unless a Koln-Aachen-Liege-Brussels-Lille-London service is 'pick-up only' as far as Lille AND with UK border checks installed at Koln, Aachen and Liege...which would make it uneconomic... the only solution seems to be either passport checking on arrival at St Pancras which would be really annoying, or on-train passport checks after departing Lille.
Passport checks on entry at St Pancras wouldn't be that hard. There's plenty of room, but it doesn't solve the problem of people still coming and claiming asylum - as against being refused entry BEFORE they travel.
As long as the desks are staffed properly, and they get the new technology (like the electronic immigration booths, which will replace IRIS) to work reliably, it shouldn't cause much of a delay at all.
It's been years since I was on Eurostar, but last time I did was a journey from Lille to Waterloo, and immigration officers walked down the train checking everyone's passport, don't they do that now?
You wouldn't need to check in France or Belgium (or indeed Germany, Netherlands etc) that way - and you'd simply charge Eurostar (or whoever) to return people like with airlines.
It's not an ideal solution, but it would solve this problem. There aren't that many trains arriving at once, so I am sure it would never get as busy or congested as an airport. Most people will be EU citizens, and most will have chip enabled passports, so as long as they don't scrimp on desks/machines it shouldn't be much of a delay at all.
But then if you treat the train operators like plane operators, somehow they will have to instigate passport checks before boarding to avoid being fined - is it £1000 or £2000 for illegal passenger carried? It's easier with a plane - there's only one gate or door.
Not even illegal however to hold more than one valid ticket covering any particular journey. So a person could be checked on their Schengen ticket and be an unchecked no-show on a UK ticket. Yet have valid tickets to show at every point in the journey. Or swap tickets with a partner who holds a UK ticket but alights at Lille.Got a ticket check for the first time ever after arriving at St. Pancras (from Brussels) on Tuesday afternoon though I have heard of this happening before from others. It was UKBA staff doing the checking.
It's been years since I was on Eurostar, but last time I did was a journey from Lille to Waterloo, and immigration officers walked down the train checking everyone's passport, don't they do that now?
If I were coming to England for economic reasons, assuming I had all the information, I would not want to claim asylum. The asylum processing centres seem very unpleasant places - the aim would be to sneak in and, as you said, easily disappear.
...while others can clearly come over and happily disappear - supported by others in the community...
How Germany blamed everything on the Jews is not the same as our obvious problem with illegal immigrants - many of which we don't even know about!
Some are brought in my gangs and forced to work in terrible conditions, while others can clearly come over and happily disappear - supported by others in the community. These people contribute nothing to the economy, and can't pay taxes even if they want to (I guess they could pay VAT though, on cash-in-hand money).
I am not against immigration, but everyone who comes here needs to be legal. They can then contribute to society properly, which also means that if they need benefits then they should be entitled too. The legitimate immigrants would also get a much easier ride if they weren't tarred with the same brush as the illegals.
To what extend would mandatory ID cards help combat this problem ?
or just sign up to the Schengen Agreement and have done with.
Is Ireland part of the agreement? Can you fly/sail there from elsewhere in Europe, then walk over to northern Ireland and then get into the rest of GB with no further checks?
Clearly, Ireland can't join the Schengen area without the UK joining because of the open border between NI and ROI.