Hazard For Brits Returning To UK

[thaibeachlovers]

@thonglorjimmy. I have intiated what is called 'Condemnation Proceedings', which seeks a court order that the seizure was illegal. I have also issued a 'Claim for Restoration'. I assure you there is no doubt in my mind who was wrong - it would seem as a matter of policy.

@Fifty Two. "You matched the description of a paedophile on their 'watch' list." I doubt any of us do not match the description of some paedophile on watch lists. In any event, the other chap couldn't be more different than me in appearance.

or general tip-off on a paedophile with just the flight given.

The data seizing is a paedophile thing, they put dirty pictures in hidden directories.

Your topic title is a bit misleading as it isn't a general hazard for Brits.

It's a hazard for single elderly males carrying data sources.

Women, young guys and couples would have not been affected.

Older guys with no laptops or thumb drives would not be affected.

Any pedo that puts "dirty pictures in hidden directories" would have to be a moron. Everyone knows that nothing on a computer is "hidden" nowadays.

With the ability to upload encrypted pictures to the internet now, who would be so stupid as to try and take banned media through customs on a computer?

[thaibeachlovers]

In March I went through Heathrow on a trip back to see my folks. I had one suitcase, and one hand luggage - no duty free. I walked through "nothing to declare" and a guy came out of the room on the right in the corridor and asked me to follow him. I had come via India (cheapo tickets - Jet). He asked me as follows:

"Where have you come from?"

"Chiang Mai, Thailand via Bombay"

"Can I see you passport please"

[handed it to him]

"Do you live there are was it just a visit?"

"I live there"

"What do you do there?"

"Nothing...I home school my kids...my wife works here in the UK" [OK too much info given - but I was very tired having been on 3 successive planes and had been traveling 20 odd hours]

"Oh really?" [rhetorical - genuine surprise]

"What is in your case? Cigarettes? Alcohol?"

"Erm...No cigarettes, I don't smoke and neither do my folks...erm, a 750cl bottle of Burmese Whisky"

"OK, thank you"

"Do you want me to open it?"

"No that's fine - thank you - please take that door" [points to a door in the same wall but further down the corridor leading to the exit.

No search. In fact he was really quite polite.

On leaving two weeks later. I get stopped again at the X-ray checks. Full body scan - it doesn't like my necklace - secondary metal detector baton scan. Bag stops in the x-ray and is pulled out with dozens of others. Takes almost an hour to get to my bag to be checked. Worried about flight I was originally early for - hate not being early! Turns out the x-ray didn't like the espresso machine in my hand luggage Indian guy does the checks, unpacks and scans everything individually (except two pairs of jeans that wouldn't fit in my case and some books, then swabs it and checks in a chem machine for drugs. He then carried it over to a table for me and helped me repack it. I, being me, had a few quips with him and he was friendly enough - no problems (although I did leave a card reader and laptop power lead behind on the table - it was a free for all with dozens of other re-packers!).

I guess its all about the answers you give and how suspicious they are lead to feel. My answers were unique enough to get a pass I guess - and not having any ciggies or duty free too perhaps???

I got stopped years ago - called to the side - bags open, a full 20min search...

10 mins into the search I was asked: "you don't mind do you?"

I replied: "No... in other countries they just prod my bags and waste my time, you are doing a full search, if there is something you'll find it !"...

The customs officer completed the search 10 minutes later, was very polite.

The following year I was called to the side - they asked to see my passport (full of stamps)... the Officer responds.. Oh, you're a regular traveller... have a good day, and ushered me along.

That is the only 2 occasions I've been stopped upon entering the UK in nearly 20 years of back and forth.

I have no issue with the searches... Confiscation of items I need is a completely different matter.

<they asked to see my passport (full of stamps)... the Officer responds.. Oh, you're a regular traveller... have a good day>

In my case, a passport full of Thai stamps was a source of suspicion that I was obviously a bad man, and led to a 4 HOUR search. First thing I did when I had time was to get a new passport!

[thaibeachlovers]

well, i was yet again pulled by some blonde at heathrow in august and as usual she had a face like a slapped a** and an attitude to match. so i knew where it was going and it started out like this;

"hello sir, where have you just travelled from?"

"bangkok"

" and what was the purpose of your trip?"

"F******g prostitutes......"

" RIGHT! can you follow me to this bench over here please?"

now a lot more predictable questions ensued but it was when she opened my bag that i had difficulty keeping it sensible.

"why do you have a crash helmet with no insides in here?"

"im allergic to the lining"....

"why do you have several motorcycle parts in here?"

"cos the whole bike wouldnt fit".....

"where is your laptop?"

"can you see a laptop?.... nope, me neither".....

"why is there no memory card in your camera?"

"there isnt?.....i must have left it in my laptop"

"and where is that laptop now?"

"it was in thailand when i left it, now would you like me to P** through a tea strainer so that i can go catch my coach?"

that didnt go down well and no doubt ill be magically 'randomly' selected on next years return as well.......oh hum.

I reckon that if I were that customs officer and you spoke to me like that I'd do my level best to make sure we made your life as miserable as possible for as long as possible.

"I'd do my level best to make sure we made your life as miserable as possible for as long as possible"

Thank you for exposing yourself

It definitely reinforces the "profile" I have of you.

None of us have the right to treat governement employees who are simply trying to do their job, the way that poster suggested, that's my moral take on things so stick that in your profile of me also, sad if you or others think it is OK.

Civil SERVANTS don't have the right to treat passengers like sh_t either, but they do so frequently. If they want respect, they should repect the people that pay their wages.

[FiftyTwo]

Folks want to live in a society that is 100% free and 100% safe, well you can't, you can have most of one and some of the other, I vote for mostly safe and that's the way it is today.

You still haven't answered me!

How exactly do you think customs and immigration can keep you either free or safe?

I'm not going to play word games with you 52, I know you to be smater than that from previous posts. But if you're really in doubt about the worthiness and effectivness of either department, imagine what the UK would be like if neither existed and anyone and everyone were allowed to come and go as they please, bringing with them whatever they wished!

What I'm getting at is that Customs and Immigration are nothing to do with a UK citizens Safety.

You seem to think they are, which is wrong.

Their job is tax and control.

[b0nkr]

take the hint. travel by air only when you absolutely have to.

dont go to those repressive states at all.

ditch your citizenship of those repressive states.

not once have i ever had any of this crap when entering thailand at all. and i have entered thailand say at least three times more than the sum of all other country entries combined. i like it that way, perhaps another reason i live here.

edit: hmm just realized that this entry multiple isnt physically possible, try three times more than the next closest rival. you get the idea.

Edited November 2, 2013 by b0nkr

[thaibeachlovers]

I'm sorry but what you describe as a hazard is nothing more than a part of a travellers everyday life, if nothing to hide, no problems, get over it and get used to it.

I disagree - my latest visit to the UK a few months ago was just for a week.

I work, bank, pretty much do everything on my computer - If it was confiscated I would have to buy another one and re-sync to my back up.

But, don't they confiscate hard drives too - that means my backup is also gone.

I'd be crippled....

There is no way this is a normal part of travelling - the confiscation of computers IMO is extreme and I to would object, complain, kick up a fuss and draw charges.

However, I have no issues against a search which lasts 30mins, they can even turn on my computer and glance through the files, but I find the confiscation without apparent reason huge issue.

We all run a risk of damage to our PC's, theft of them or loss of data by negotiating various electronic pathways, anywhere. Anyone who doesn't back up their data into the cloud or similar runs a risk hence it's a part of the cost of travelling/doing business - data backed up into the cloud, a tablet or 3G phone as backup for application execution (not a luxury these days) and who cares what the customs guys do, you may see things differently.

Scuse me if i am ignorant about backing up on the cloud but if there was anything electronic you wanted to get into another country with out the authorities knowing and taking a chance passing the customs section of the airport, could you just load into the cloud on another computer so your travel computer is clean and then on arrival just download from the cloud again ? This would mean getting hard drives confiscated just a waste of time and if this is possible then customs personnel ,not being dummies . would know this. Or am i missing something about the cloud and/or would this be illegal ? I have never used the cloud to back up, just portable hard drives for my photos , i tunes and maybe a few movies to watch and perhaps my Agoda Hotel vouchers. Or email yourself and not even use the cloud or hard-drive . It just sounds like a waste of time to confiscate a computer.

Don't use the cloud unless you don't mind some spotty geek looking at everything. It's just come out that the NSA hacks the cloud.

[BigC]

When did you get the seized stuff back?

 

What was the point of this, why mention Thai?.......just curious. 

"It is not hard to imagine the response on forums if a report of such action by Thai officials against a foreigner was posted".

because there seems to be a presumption by the staff that single males arriving from Thailand ARE criminals and need to be sorted.

 

I was held for 4 hours by a *^&%^% male officer while he read my Thai language translation books, obviously looking for such phrases as "where can I find underage girls" etc. He made no secret of the fact that he considered me to be a pedo, despite there being absolutely no evidence of this.

After checking my passport ( presumably on every known database ) twice, he had to give up and let me go.

 

However, it spurred me to develop a system for prevention, which worked in all future arrivals:

 

Never walk through customs alone- I either go through with the people I met on the flight, or I strike up a conversation with a couple while passing the customs staff.

 

Hide the luggage tag so it isn't obvious where I'm from, and I sometimes wait till all Bkk passengers have gone through, and join the q from another country.

 

NEVER look at the staff, and walk on the far side of the hall from them, or in the middle if they are on both sides.

If a staff approaches me before reaching the customs hall, I just say I'm going to the toilet with traveller's diahhorea, and they have usually got involved with someone else when I come out in 10 minutes time.

 

The one time I was stopped anyway, I took out my notebook and detailed the staff's number, the time and what they did. That freaked her out, and I got treated with respect and sent on my way very quickly.

 

 

What is more freaky though, are the incompetent boobs they have on the departure side at Heathrow. These nincompoops obviously have no training in psychology or how to deal with people in a stressful situation. Furthermore, many ( most? ) are not British raised and don't understand British humour. One moronic female staff took offence at a passenger's joke, and proceeded to have a full scale tantrum, holding everyone up for ages. When I asked her male colleague if he could speed things up, he almost hit me in the face, and was very threatening. I obviously didn't react as I wanted to, or I'd have been detained and not got on my flight.

Idiots with power are definitely scary.

Yes hat annoys me when immigration and customs are not British born

They normally I've me a harder time that normal born and breed english government officials

Once I had some Indian born person given me and my wife hassle on arrival

An english born immigration sore that I was not being treated right pulled me and my misses to one side, then apologizes and let us through

Also on the way out he let us last the long stupid security check saved us about 3 hours

Sorry forgot to mention these were 2 different people from arrival and departures

They are not all bad just some seem to take their job to their extreme with a list for power

Genuin police and customs are not interested in small petty things and can be nice people

Had another foreigner wanted to take my lighter from Amsterdam and told me that if there was any resin on my lighter then I can be nicked

I told him you could nick me but it is pretty pathetic

He told me off for saying that and bullied me into talking nice to him

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[BigC]

"And I think we're all done beating this one to death, I at least am since there's not much else to be said it seems."

 

I'll drink to that.

Looks like backing out due to a floored point of view

Like one said most of the people sticking up for the customs and the way they handled the situation are assuming the rest of the story and making accusations based on assumptions

They would make good uk customs officers

They could nick people all day long long based on their assumptions

Plus I am sure they would need a warrant to search a lap top and need probably cause

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[fredob43]

When did you get the seized stuff back?

What was the point of this, why mention Thai?.......just curious.

"It is not hard to imagine the response on forums if a report of such action by Thai officials against a foreigner was posted".[/size]

<why mention Thai?.......>

because there seems to be a presumption by the staff that single males arriving from Thailand ARE criminals and need to be sorted.

I was held for 4 hours by a *^&%^% male officer while he read my Thai language translation books, obviously looking for such phrases as "where can I find underage girls" etc. He made no secret of the fact that he considered me to be a pedo, despite there being absolutely no evidence of this.

After checking my passport ( presumably on every known database ) twice, he had to give up and let me go.

However, it spurred me to develop a system for prevention, which worked in all future arrivals:

Never walk through customs alone- I either go through with the people I met on the flight, or I strike up a conversation with a couple while passing the customs staff.

Hide the luggage tag so it isn't obvious where I'm from, and I sometimes wait till all Bkk passengers have gone through, and join the q from another country.

NEVER look at the staff, and walk on the far side of the hall from them, or in the middle if they are on both sides.

If a staff approaches me before reaching the customs hall, I just say I'm going to the toilet with traveller's diahhorea, and they have usually got involved with someone else when I come out in 10 minutes time.

The one time I was stopped anyway, I took out my notebook and detailed the staff's number, the time and what they did. That freaked her out, and I got treated with respect and sent on my way very quickly.

What is more freaky though, are the incompetent boobs they have on the departure side at Heathrow. These nincompoops obviously have no training in psychology or how to deal with people in a stressful situation. Furthermore, many ( most? ) are not British raised and don't understand British humour. One moronic female staff took offence at a passenger's joke, and proceeded to have a full scale tantrum, holding everyone up for ages. When I asked her male colleague if he could speed things up, he almost hit me in the face, and was very threatening. I obviously didn't react as I wanted to, or I'd have been detained and not got on my flight.

Idiots with power are definitely scary.

Yes British humour doesn't go down to well. Coming out of Heathrow a few month's ago I got stopped by an idiot he said I had explosive's in my hand luggage, is that right I said well I suggest you find it, another peep's then arrived to give my case a full working over. I must point out at this point that the case had a bit of paper passport ticket's etc in the lid of same + two charger's for phone other than that bugger all they gave it a good check out went through both pocket's in the lid opened the case and behold empty.

Why is it empty they asked ???? well I think it's up to me what I put in a case, come on then where do you think I have the explosive's under the invisible man, this went down like a lead balloon. Then I twigged what the problem was may I help??? big NO we are trained to search case's, well your not doing a very good job of it are you I think I know what the problem let me have a go, did they listen not one bit. I sat down and let them get on with it. After about an hour of taking swab's xray's they had finished and I was told that I could go on my way that was after I had to sign a form to state that I didn't have any family that were in the armed forces. When I was allowed to get my hand's on the case I opened the top pocket of the case and low and behold in it was a box of match's, I had put in from a Hotel in BKK on my trip out. Ah here I pointed out is the problem if you had done your job properly or let me help you would have found it and saved all of us a lot of buggering about. The offending box was taken away to have another xray another 1/2 hour passed before I was told to go on my way.

They are at best plonkers that think they are some sort of Buddha. Better to keep quiet not easy when dealing with idiot's above their station.

Edited November 2, 2013 by fredob43

[thaibeachlovers]

When did you get the seized stuff back?

What was the point of this, why mention Thai?.......just curious.

"It is not hard to imagine the response on forums if a report of such action by Thai officials against a foreigner was posted".[/size]

<why mention Thai?.......>

because there seems to be a presumption by the staff that single males arriving from Thailand ARE criminals and need to be sorted.

I was held for 4 hours by a *^&%^% male officer while he read my Thai language translation books, obviously looking for such phrases as "where can I find underage girls" etc. He made no secret of the fact that he considered me to be a pedo, despite there being absolutely no evidence of this.

After checking my passport ( presumably on every known database ) twice, he had to give up and let me go.

However, it spurred me to develop a system for prevention, which worked in all future arrivals:

Never walk through customs alone- I either go through with the people I met on the flight, or I strike up a conversation with a couple while passing the customs staff.

Hide the luggage tag so it isn't obvious where I'm from, and I sometimes wait till all Bkk passengers have gone through, and join the q from another country.

NEVER look at the staff, and walk on the far side of the hall from them, or in the middle if they are on both sides.

If a staff approaches me before reaching the customs hall, I just say I'm going to the toilet with traveller's diahhorea, and they have usually got involved with someone else when I come out in 10 minutes time.

The one time I was stopped anyway, I took out my notebook and detailed the staff's number, the time and what they did. That freaked her out, and I got treated with respect and sent on my way very quickly.

What is more freaky though, are the incompetent boobs they have on the departure side at Heathrow. These nincompoops obviously have no training in psychology or how to deal with people in a stressful situation. Furthermore, many ( most? ) are not British raised and don't understand British humour. One moronic female staff took offence at a passenger's joke, and proceeded to have a full scale tantrum, holding everyone up for ages. When I asked her male colleague if he could speed things up, he almost hit me in the face, and was very threatening. I obviously didn't react as I wanted to, or I'd have been detained and not got on my flight.

Idiots with power are definitely scary.

Yes British humour doesn't go down to well. Coming out of Heathrow a few month's ago I got stopped by an idiot he said I had explosive's in my hand luggage, is that right I said well I suggest you find it, another peep's then arrived to give my case a full working over. I must point out at this point that the case had a bit of paper passport ticket's etc in the lid of same + two charger's for phone other than that bugger all they gave it a good check out went through both pocket's in the lid opened the case and behold empty.

Why is it empty they asked ???? well I think it's up to me what I put in a case, come on then where do you think I have the explosive's under the invisible man, this went down like a lead balloon. Then I twigged what the problem was may I help??? big NO we are trained to search case's, well your not doing a very good job of it are you I think I know what the problem let me have a go, did they listen not one bit. I sat down and let them get on with it. After about an hour of taking swab's xray's they had finished and I was told that I could go on my way that was after I had to sign a form to state that I didn't have any family that were in the armed forces. When I was allowed to get my hand's on the case I opened the top pocket of the case and low and behold in it was a box of match's, I had put in from a Hotel in BKK on my trip out. Ah here I pointed out is the problem if you had done your job properly or let me help you would have found it and saved all of us a lot of buggering about. The offending box was taken away to have another xray another 1/2 hour passed before I was told to go on my way.

They are at best plonkers that think they are some sort of Buddha. Better to keep quiet not easy when dealing with idiot's above their station.

One time I was going through Heathrow security check and a humourless woman decided to swab my bag. For some reason it seemed so funny to me that I was cracking up laughing to myself and had to turn away. Well, she got all het up about me not looking and insisted that I do so. It was really really hard not to laugh in her face, but I had to hide it as I knew she'd make my life difficult if I did.

[marioc]

“There's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.”

― Frank Zappa

I would say: definitely!

[marioc]

What must you be told?

The customs officer must tell you what you are suspected of: for example, I have reasonable grounds to suspect that you are carrying illegal drugs. Although you should ask why you are suspected of a particular offence, the customs officer does not, in fact, have to tell you.

Huh? "The customs officer must tell you" but then "the customs officer does not, in fact, have to tell you". So they have to or not?

Read slowly; the Customs Officer must tell you what you are suspected of. The Customs Officer is not obliged to answer any of your questions.

so?... if he doesn't tell me what I am suspected of, what am I supposed to do in order to know?

[kkerry]

If some of you learnt to answer the questions asked by customs or immigration minus the attitude then you would encounter a lot less problems.

[FiftyTwo]

If some of you learnt to answer the questions asked by customs or immigration minus the attitude then you would encounter a lot less problems.

I guess your vote is "bend over"

[chiang mai]

If some of you learnt to answer the questions asked by customs or immigration minus the attitude then you would encounter a lot less problems.

I guess your vote is "bend over"

...whilst the vote of many here seems to be, challenge authority wherever it is found, do not co-operate with it and be abusive towards it where possible.

[FiftyTwo]

If some of you learnt to answer the questions asked by customs or immigration minus the attitude then you would encounter a lot less problems.

I guess your vote is "bend over"

...whilst the vote of many here seems to be, challenge authority wherever it is found, do not co-operate with it and be abusive towards it where possible.

I've always gone the confrontation route, never had the chance with Immigration or customs, they always ignored me.

But the police, yeah, go for it. The police are easy targets, 3 written complaints about a police officer and he loses his chance of promotion forever. Not to mention you can chock up tens of thousands of investigation fees for his constabulary.

If they want to play, I'm game.

(OK so last time it did cost me a couple of nights in custody, but it cost them 120kGBP in investigation fees for my complaints, 8 officers investigated and a complaint on each of their records, and 10 grand compensation for me.)

Easiest 10 grand I ever earned!

[chiang mai]

If some of you learnt to answer the questions asked by customs or immigration minus the attitude then you would encounter a lot less problems.

I guess your vote is "bend over"

...whilst the vote of many here seems to be, challenge authority wherever it is found, do not co-operate with it and be abusive towards it where possible.

I've always gone the confrontation route, never had the chance with Immigration or customs, they always ignored me.

But the police, yeah, go for it. The police are easy targets, 3 written complaints about a police officer and he loses his chance of promotion forever. Not to mention you can chock up tens of thousands of investigation fees for his constabulary.

If they want to play, I'm game.

(OK so last time it did cost me a couple of nights in custody, but it cost them 120kGBP in investigation fees for my complaints, 8 officers investigated and a complaint on each of their records, and 10 grand compensation for me.)

Easiest 10 grand I ever earned!

Are you proud of that?

[b0nkr]

If some of you learnt to answer the questions asked by customs or immigration minus the attitude then you would encounter a lot less problems.

if your immigration learnt to conduct themselves more like thai immigration there wouldnt be any problems. just dont go there at all ever, problem solved.

[JoeLing]

@Chiang Mai

"a recipet", apparently, is what the OP didn't get!

Go on, "Didn't get a receipt". Maybe lost it? Maybe he didn't have a laptop at all? Who knows.

I'm sure everyone is aware not to pay a bill or leave anything in "deposit" without a receipt?

No receipt, no refund.

Now don't get me wrong. Absolute nothing to complain about this thread. Nothing wrong making

people aware, that anything can be confiscated by any customs around the world from any nationality.

Not just in Britain.

Now as for travelling with a laptop. I have only the basic android system installed, some security software

and a program called "Splashtop". All my data is left at home on my PC and backed up on a cloud. I

can access all my data from anywhere in the world from any PC or smartphone.

My Tablet and my PC at home are both secured with a finger print password and mostly left on standby.

(So I can delete any data remotely with a push on the button of my mobile phone). If ever I lose or anyone

steals my android (or my PC at home), I can trace where it is, delete data or even render my Comp's useless.

All I need is access to a phone.

Now as some posters rightly mentioned, forensics will not start up your laptop but take it to bits and retrieve

data that way.If they would try and not enter my password within a specified time, all data on my Android

would be deleted and wiped over 7 times as recommended by NSA. As android OS is very small that takes

less than 2 seconds) Now as there is absolute no personal data on my Android, there is no real worries that

anyone, legally or not, could access any of my files.

Different rules apply for stuff you posted on line on public forums, walls or even websites. They have copies

of anything we posted in the past. including edits and deleted stuff. Even old, long deleted websites can be

found. Very likely someone on the WWW has still a copy of it. Try Internet Archives.

Now for profiling people. Just the criteria has changed. Long time ago it was long hair. So instead of insisting

on my look, it was easy to pull my hair up and hide it under a cap. Was just to make it easy on myself crossing

borders. Today, wearing a penguin dress and a business case instead of a rucksack might facilitate crossing

any border more than fisherman trousers, a hat and feather earrings (just an example).

[JoeLing]

Sorry, double posting

Edited November 2, 2013 by JoeLing

[FiftyTwo]

I've always gone the confrontation route, never had the chance with Immigration or customs, they always ignored me.

But the police, yeah, go for it. The police are easy targets, 3 written complaints about a police officer and he loses his chance of promotion forever. Not to mention you can chock up tens of thousands of investigation fees for his constabulary.

If they want to play, I'm game.

(OK so last time it did cost me a couple of nights in custody, but it cost them 120kGBP in investigation fees for my complaints, 8 officers investigated and a complaint on each of their records, and 10 grand compensation for me.)

Easiest 10 grand I ever earned!

Are you proud of that?

Absolutely, would have liked to see all 8 dismissed, next time ......

Public servants need to obey their own rules and guidelines, and fear the consequences of bullying us.

[marioc]

If some of you learnt to answer the questions asked by customs or immigration minus the attitude then you would encounter a lot less problems.

....."... a lot less problems...." , but still.....problems may arise, isn't it? And what am I supposed to do? Get used to it? Even they come from undertrained, idiot etc. etc. public servants ..... why? I have the right to complain if I am not treated fairly , only because I am a single male travelling with no luggage from Thai.

[BigC]

"So in the case of that particular poster, he's just met that customs official for the first time and she asks, where have you been and what have you been doing and he replies, in Thailand f**king prostitutes! You're very very confused about who it is that needs to learn and earn respect in that scenario."

For the sake of argument, let’s say he was telling the truth.

Even so, it certainly does not give her the right to abuse him in any manner what so ever.

She is not the police, judge, jury and executioner rolled up into one.

She is a civil servant with emphasis on servant.

Street justice dished out by people with badges is a worst case scenario

The customs officer had a job to do, she did it, why she did it the way that she did is not 100% clear but I suspect most strongly that we only have a partial picture, my experience of many hundreds of arrivals into UK airports tells me this is so. Also, you might consider revisiting your definition of civil servants, the emphasis of their role is to benefit the UK population, not individuals who are suspected of crimes (why else would the laptop have been removed).

And I think we're all done beating this one to death, I at least am since there's not much else to be said it seems.

EDIT: Just an afterthought: this is an issue about people of any nationality travelling through Customs in any country, the fact that the OP just happens to be (presumably) British travelling into the UK is largely irrelvant in many respects, I wonder what the OP's post would have looked like had he/she been travelling into say USA, or even Thailand, probably the same I would guess!

We do not own them you cannot own anybody but they are our servants. If there job is to benifit UK population is to seize lap tops with no reason or warrant to do so then i do not take that as a benefiting the UK population. It seems like they are put there to rob the UK population.

Anyway i am grateful to the OP for pointing this what seems like corruption out so i can take steps to avoid losing all my personal work and personal data.

I am suspicious that this was not a ploy to pull someone over for no reason in order to let something more illegal through whilst taking up customs time.

If they can accuse the public of stuff with insufficant reason then i find this reason to pull someone over for a lap top even more suspicious.

As why would they customs want to waist their own time with flights coming from SE Asian. Maybe some people have visited the golden triangle but for some reason the staff purposely waist their own time on a no case lap top incodent.

Seeems a bit dicy to me. All i know is that Manchester is flooded with real contrband and it is getting into our country some how even through those same customs offficors.

[I Like Thai]

And while we are at it: I'm OK if you (police/customs) want to stop and search me, ask me questions, search my home/possessions etc and so on, it's their job and they need to be allowed to do it, as an innocent person I'm OK with it all, others who are not may not be, but whilst they are trying to provide security for me and my family, it's not the time for me to introduce principles into the discussion!

But who's going to protect you from them after you have willingly surrendered all your rights?

Ask any Germans old enough to remember, how it worked out for them in the '30s and '40s.

Oh please.

The British army will come to the rescue surely

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/outrage-after-troops-bring-shame-2648735

[uptheos]

"So in the case of that particular poster, he's just met that customs official for the first time and she asks, where have you been and what have you been doing and he replies, in Thailand f**king prostitutes! You're very very confused about who it is that needs to learn and earn respect in that scenario."

Can you imagine coming this way and being asked your reason for entering Thailand and saying, I'm here to f*** as many of your Thai prostitutes as I can. Of course it wouldn't happen, because people coming this way bend over so far to Thai immigration, it's embarrassing, it's only going the other way when they think it's OK to say it.........must be that feeling of 'freedom of speech again'.

[BigC]

I've always gone the confrontation route, never had the chance with Immigration or customs, they always ignored me.

But the police, yeah, go for it. The police are easy targets, 3 written complaints about a police officer and he loses his chance of promotion forever. Not to mention you can chock up tens of thousands of investigation fees for his constabulary.

If they want to play, I'm game.

(OK so last time it did cost me a couple of nights in custody, but it cost them 120kGBP in investigation fees for my complaints, 8 officers investigated and a complaint on each of their records, and 10 grand compensation for me.)

Easiest 10 grand I ever earned!

Are you proud of that?

Absolutely, would have liked to see all 8 dismissed, next time ......

Public servants need to obey their own rules and guidelines, and fear the consequences of bullying us.

It is like a boxer in a ring. If the police want to step in the ring then the ( client / victim ) has the right to be arrogant back

[umbanda]

In America every officer, police, immigration, taxes, etc, etc, have to fill a monthly "quote" of so many tickets, search, inspections, etc....and may be the case also for other countries. And also....they need to show off sometimes...specially the new ones...

[JoeLing]

Don't use the cloud unless you don't mind some spotty geek looking at everything. It's just come out that the NSA hacks the cloud.

Ohh, forgot to say, I only back up encrypted files to cloud. Off course, anything can be hacked. Just make it a bit more difficult :-)

[BigC]

If some of you learnt to answer the questions asked by customs or immigration minus the attitude then you would encounter a lot less problems.

what if you ask a question and get no answer is that right also. or are we supposed to be robots and not get afffended. Most of it is intmidation.

Like Someone said they asked so many stupid questions. like " did u pack this bag yourself sir, "

Answer " no i have a magical fairy that packs my bags for me every time i go away" ask a stupid question get a stupid answer..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-k5h8arZYM

watch and learn lol

[sustento]

I'm sorry but what you describe as a hazard is nothing more than a part of a travellers everyday life, if nothing to hide, no problems, get over it and get used to it.

I disagree - my latest visit to the UK a few months ago was just for a week.

I work, bank, pretty much do everything on my computer - If it was confiscated I would have to buy another one and re-sync to my back up.

But, don't they confiscate hard drives too - that means my backup is also gone.

I'd be crippled....

There is no way this is a normal part of travelling - the confiscation of computers IMO is extreme and I to would object, complain, kick up a fuss and draw charges.

However, I have no issues against a search which lasts 30mins, they can even turn on my computer and glance through the files, but I find the confiscation without apparent reason huge issue.

We all run a risk of damage to our PC's, theft of them or loss of data by negotiating various electronic pathways, anywhere. Anyone who doesn't back up their data into the cloud or similar runs a risk hence it's a part of the cost of travelling/doing business - data backed up into the cloud, a tablet or 3G phone as backup for application execution (not a luxury these days) and who cares what the customs guys do, you may see things differently.

Scuse me if i am ignorant about backing up on the cloud but if there was anything electronic you wanted to get into another country with out the authorities knowing and taking a chance passing the customs section of the airport, could you just load into the cloud on another computer so your travel computer is clean and then on arrival just download from the cloud again ? This would mean getting hard drives confiscated just a waste of time and if this is possible then customs personnel ,not being dummies . would know this. Or am i missing something about the cloud and/or would this be illegal ? I have never used the cloud to back up, just portable hard drives for my photos , i tunes and maybe a few movies to watch and perhaps my Agoda Hotel vouchers. Or email yourself and not even use the cloud or hard-drive . It just sounds like a waste of time to confiscate a computer.

You can put any file into the cloud. Just make sure you've encrypted it first if it's confidential.