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Border control systems face fire from travellers wrongly delayed

<span>Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images</span>
Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Frustrated travellers have hit out at Home Office systems that led to them repeatedly being held up at airports even though they have done nothing wrong, as a charity and users said the system was not fit for purpose.

The innocent travellers, who are apparently linked to criminals with the same or similar names on Home Office databases, are calling on the government to sort out the problems that delay their journeys and separate them from travel companions when they go through passport control.

Their passports are rejected at eGates and they then are subjected to further scrutiny by Border Force officials who check them out on Home Office computer systems. The rejection of their passports at eGates and the further checks they face cause inconvenience as well as frustration.

Edin Omanovic, Surveillance Programme Lead at Privacy International, said: “Clearly the system is not fit for purpose. It’s a hangover from years of mismanagement and waste of taxpayers’ money, now leading to considerable distress to untold people. The very least the department can do is be honest with people who understandably want simple answers.”

There are 264 eGates in place at 15 airports and other entry ports. The Home Office insists that their monitoring systems do not rely on names alone but also use other identifying information when checking people at borders.

The Guardian previously highlighted the case of Antonio Heslop, a Jamaican man wrongly accused of being a convicted drug dealer when he applied for a biometric residence permit because his name was linked to criminals with similar names on a Home Office database. Heslop has no convictions.

Related: Home Office to assign Border Force tasks to agency workers

The case of Prof David Baker whose passport has been rejected at eGates a hundred times in the past seven years by Border Force officials was also highlighted. Baker branded the biometric system “useless”.

Since then more people have come forward and have reported identical problems to the Guardian. There is even a TripAdvisor forum devoted to problems people have experienced after being stopped over cases of mistaken identity.

Prof Peter Dawson contacted the Guardian after he experienced problems for more than three years. When his MP contacted Theresa May when she was home secretary he was told that nothing could be done about this. One Border Force official told him that the system “wasn’t very clever”.

Sometimes Border Force officials remain tight-lipped when innocent travellers question them about why they are being rejected at eGates over and over again. At other times they divulge a bit more information.

Another professor, David Wilson of the Open University, was told by a Border Force official: “Nothing wrong with your passport. I’m not supposed to tell you this, but your name will be on a list and that’s why you need to be checked every time.”

He added that even if Wilson obtained a new passport: “Your name will still be on the list”. Another Border Force official told him: “Your name coincides with people we want to talk to.”

Wilson said the system was “not fit for purpose”.

A Border Force official suggested to one person that changing their name was the only way to solve the problem. Another was told that the person who shared their name was “a particularly nasty individual”. A third Border Force official told a traveller that this would keep happening, but she wasn’t allowed to say why and that there was nothing the traveller could do about it.

Daniel Baker has experienced similar problems. He is based in Paris and travels about 10 times a year between Paris and his home in Doncaster. He has no criminal record, but has been stopped every time he travels for the past two or three years.

“The first time I was stopped I was told they were looking for a person with a similar name to me so I would get flagged until that person was found. I have contacted my local MP and have asked her to raise the issue with the Home Office,” he said.

Hilary Reader, another traveller who has experienced frequent stops, at both airports and ferry ports, said: “These days systems can – and should – be a lot more sophisticated.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “Border Force’s priority is to maintain security on the border at all times and it is inaccurate to claim that checks are based on name alone. All those arriving in the UK are examined and checked against Home Office databases using biographical and security information.

“Our ePassport gates work by using facial recognition technology, as well as biographical and security checks. There are a number of technical and security reasons why a passport may fail to be accepted at automated border controls.”