English_for_customs / English for customs / unit2 / 50

PASSENGER CONTROL

Mr. BLERIOT

In 1909, less than 90 years ago, on the white cliffs of Dover³ an aviator by the name of Bleriot became the first man to fly across the Channel from France to England. This was the first international arrival by air into the UK. A milestone in aviation history and one of many such challenges for Customs. No one had considered the possibility that an aeroplane might arrive from another country and, of course, there were no procedures laid down to deal with it. After some difficulty the Customs Officer, who had been hastily summoned from the docks at Dover decided to treat the plane as a yacht and Bleriot as its master and issued maritime clearance papers.

The local Customs managers in reporting this incident to the Board of Customs in London⁴ advised them that there was no need to change because this method of transport was very unlikely to catch on!

Perhaps it is worth considering what Mr. Bleriot would have thought should he have travelled through time and landed his airplane at London's Heathrow⁵ today.

He would be met by flexible anti-smuggling teams, risk analysis, covert surveillance teams and sniffer dogs. His documents would be processed through state-of-the-art computer technology. Let's make sure that if he continued to travel in time to the next century and landed anywhere in the world he would encounter a professional and proud Customs Service that constantly changes to meet modern demands.

11. Comment:

Truth exists, only falsehood has to be invented.

G. Braqiie ⁶

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