Rail passengers to face airport-style security checks?

[johnnychips]

Am I the only one old enough to have noticed New Labour's reckless disregard for civil liberties?

I don't know why Labour got such a bee in their bonnet about ID cards. I vote for them if I'm in a good mood. But it would have cost a fortune. If you really need to do it then why not just insist everyone has a passport, as most people travel - but as for everyone having to carry one at all times - no way!

I always wonder on my travels if I'm supposed to have an official ID, but on the other hand I don't want it nicked, so I usually carry a photocopy of the passport info on me and leave the real thing in the hotel safe.

 

[WestCoast]

Not that it's really a legitimate reason for their introduction, but ID cards would have been handy for Brits living or staying for extended periods in countries where you have to de jure or de facto carry ID. The U.S. Government is happy to issue "passport cards" against a fee but the UK does not. Fortunately, the EU style photocard driving licenses are often accepted, at least initially, as proof of ID.
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A few years ago, I was due to fly with Ryanair from Liverpool to Londonderry with my grandfather. However, he had sent his passport away for renewal and wasn't in possession of a photocard driving license, so travel was denied. In fact I'm not even sure they allowed a driving license at that time, so there was the laughable situation where the only ID accepted, for UK citizens at least, was a passport for a domestic flight. :roll:

 

[CockneySparrow]

Nope, over news outlets are also covering the same story

Daily Star, same company as Daily Mail

 

[najaB]

In fact I'm not even sure they allowed a driving license at that time, so there was the laughable situation where the only ID accepted, for UK citizens at least, was a passport for a domestic flight. :roll:

That's interesting because the other popular no-frills airline accepts my company ID card and has for as long as I've been back in the UK.

 

[fowler9]

Most European countries have an ID card system but Cameron and Clegg scrapped ours partly for civil liberties reasons I think.

Most British people though carry their Drivers Licence which is an acceptable form of identification although its not mandatory even to drive a car and thus not everybody does.

Problem is its inconceivable for everyone to have their ID cards checked when getting on a train in this country and knowing someone's identification won't prevent a terror attack.

Probably being pedantic here but do most British people carry their drivers license. I live in a household of 5 people aged between 28 and 67 and only one has a drivers license.

 

[colchesterken]

I have changed my mind on this, I was with the lib dems ( for a few days ) on this one civil liberties and all that
But with the situation re incomers legal and illegal I think it is not such a bad idea but they must stop and check people all the time , it is no use having them and not checking on people
I let a property and I do not know what checks I have to do on tenants under the new law

 

[fowler9]

I have changed my mind on this, I was with the lib dems ( for a few days ) on this one civil liberties and all that
But with the situation re incomers legal and illegal I think it is not such a bad idea but they must stop and check people all the time , it is no use having them and not checking on people
I let a property and I do not know what checks I have to do on tenants under the new law

I don't know mate, stopping and checking people all the time just to prevent something that happens on a very infrequent basis. Do you want to live in a world like that?

 

[ainsworth74]

I let a property and I do not know what checks I have to do on tenants under the new law

You may find this to be of interest then.

 

[Hornet]

In fact I'm not even sure they allowed a driving license at that time, so there was the laughable situation where the only ID accepted, for UK citizens at least, was a passport for a domestic flight. :roll:

It has been Ryanair policy for years regards Passports for domestic flights, and what you sign up to in the CoC. If want to travel within the UK by air without a Passport, Aer Lingus, BA and Flybe are more flexible in their ID requirements on their intra UK flights, or you could Rail Sail. If you don't like their policy, don't fly with them.

 

[island]

Probably being pedantic here but do most British people carry their drivers license. I live in a household of 5 people aged between 28 and 67 and only one has a drivers license.

Probably being even more pedantic but it's called a driving licence here. We can do without any more Americanisation please.

 

[fowler9]

Probably being even more pedantic but it's called a driving licence here. We can do without any more Americanisation please.

Just don't ask people with a driving license about the road tax they pay.

 

[Hadders]

Probably being pedantic here but do most British people carry their drivers license. I live in a household of 5 people aged between 28 and 67 and only one has a drivers license.

I don't carry my Driving License, there is no requirement to do so either.

Mine is rather quaint, still being an old style paper one issued in 1988. I don't propose to trade it in for a photocard one till I'm forced to.

 

[ainsworth74]

I don't carry my Driving License, there is no requirement to do so either.

Mine is rather quaint, still being an old style paper one issued in 1988. I don't propose to trade it in for a photocard one till I'm forced to.

Well there isn't really much point carrying that as it won't serve as a photo ID!

In my circle of friends we all have photocard driving licences and we all carry it in our wallets where it fits perfectly what with it being credit card sized.

 

[Ianigsy]

The main stumbling block over introducing identity cards in the UK was, and remains, the expense of setting up a system capable of issuing and maintaining 60 million cards from scratch, particularly when the long and dishonourable tradition of messing up public sector contracts is taken into account. Nobody ever really seemed to come up with an answer as to when one would be expected to produce the card, and one of the main nails in the coffin for me was the decision not to include medical details on the chip- surely this would be an advantage if someone were found collapsed in the street, for example?

To my mind, the way to have done it would have been to offer an identity card valid for travel within Europe at half the cost of a passport and see what the uptake was at the end of ten years. I probably would have taken one over a full passport and I suspect many others would.

A full national DNA database is one of those ideas which is wonderful in theory but given that police forces have already shown that they can't be trusted with the DNA of people who were arrested but never convicted of any crime, I'm not sure there would be much public confidence in the system. I can also see issues if you're expecting health workers to harvest the DNA at birth- I think another one of the issues in the past, particularly with health tourism, has been co-opting NHS health workers into doing the work of the state bureaucracy, which goes against the grain of the reason why many people go into healthcare as a profession.

 

[najaB]

A full national DNA database is one of those ideas which is wonderful in theory but given that police forces have already shown that they can't be trusted with the DNA of people who were arrested but never convicted of any crime, I'm not sure there would be much public confidence in the system.

The main problem there was not deleting records that should have been deleted. If it is a universal database then no records should ever be deleted (except possibly after death). As well as being of huge benefit to policing, it would also be an invaluable asset for medical research so it's not incompatible with the aims of the NHS.