Website To Trace Brits In Crises

[Baht Simpson]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7402638.stm

"A service to help track down Britons caught up in emergencies abroad is being launched by the Foreign Office.

The recent quake in China and cyclone in Burma both highlighted the problems involved in trying to get hold of people possibly caught up in crises.

Travellers can now register their details with the Locate service on the Foreign Office website.

These include details of their travel plans, as well as emergency contact information for embassies and family.

The launch coincides with a Foreign Office survey of 1,204 adults which found more than half went away without giving journey details to loved ones.

It also found two out of three Britons did not know where their loved ones were travelling when they went abroad.

It's great to get off the beaten track when we're away from home but things can change very quickly in any country

Foreign Office minister Meg Munn

As many as 20% of those questioned said they had been abroad during an incident and felt compelled to let someone at home know they were all right.

But the Foreign Office said communication could often be difficult in such situations, leaving families and friends not knowing whether or not the person was safe.

Problems finding out whether an individual was safe could also divert consular assistance away from those who really needed it, it added.

In case of an emergency, worried relatives in the UK can also register their concern about a traveller on the Locate website, enabling the Foreign Office to get in touch to reassure them more quickly once they have located the person in question.

Foreign Office minister Meg Munn said: "It's great to get off the beaten track when we're away from home but things can change very quickly in any country.

"In our survey more than nine out of 10 Britons said they would feel reassured to know that in the event of an emergency abroad, the local embassy could quickly find their location.

"Telling us where you will be, whether it's a short trip or you're travelling for a year, could help us either to get to you if you are in trouble, or know that you are safe so that we can concentrate our resources on helping those in need."

Britons made an estimated 68 million foreign trips in 2006.

Edited May 16, 2008 by Baht Simpson

[Totster]

Here is the link

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-and-li...verseas/Locate/

Totster

[Ricardo]

Useful service, but hardly something new, as many of us already register with our local consulate or embassy, on the old paper-based system. Presumably these entries will have already been efficiently loaded onto the new on-line system ? !

[Dave the Dude]

Useful service, but hardly something new, as many of us already register with our local consulate or embassy, on the old paper-based system. Presumably these entries will have already been efficiently loaded onto the new on-line system ? !

INCORRECT . Check the new website, it says British people who registered previously SHOULD RE-REGISTER

Dave

Edited May 17, 2008 by Dave the Dude

[Steve2UK]

Unfortunately, the online registration form seems pretty much geared to people making a trip and not to those living long-term/permanently abroad - despite the apparent options to select "resident" etc......... e.g. I tried it just now and found that the maximum length of trip you can submit is 366 days. You can't enter an arrival date before 2008 (OK, fair enough - it's supposed to be current/planned schedule information) - so you enter today's date if you arrived "in the past". I selected the latest departure date it allows - i.e. 31 December 2010 - and it just ditches the information you already entered and presents you with an error message and the blank form to fill in all over again. With what the FCO must have spent to set up this registration service, you'd think they could at least do it as well as a basic online purchase website does?

I'll stick to filling out the card at my local consulate - or print out the 14-page form from the website and give that to them.

[technocracy]

Oh yes I'll just go and register in my local British Embassy . . . oops sorry when they can be arsed to have even a consulate here I might consider using them . . oh but they can have a consulate in Chiang Mai and an embassy in Bangkok .. .

[Dave the Dude]

Oh yes I'll just go and register in my local British Embassy

So what part of the word 'WEBSITE' do you not understand

You need to join an Interknitting club and make it quick

[technocracy]

Oh yes I'll just go and register in my local British Embassy

So what part of the word 'WEBSITE' do you not understand

You need to join an Interknitting club and make it quick

I guess you don't do irony then????? :cheesy::cheesy: (is that enough?)

[dingdongrb]

Why are the Brits aways wanting to trace things?

If you want to trace your girlfriend using GPS have a look at this site:

http://www.trackapartner.com/

[Freddie_fly]

Fortunatley, I work for a company who actively monitors problems worldwide and gets in touch with travelling employees to ensure everything is Ok. I didnt realise this until I received a call at my home in Banglamung from our office in KL asking if I was OK, this was right after the Tsunami. I do think that anyone travelling should leave details with the UK embassy though.

regards

Freddie