I’ve just been told that the UK Govt GAR site does not support N-regs. You can enter the reg in but it won’t store it. Maybe it was done for G only.
Has anyone tried it?
I did, but it was already back in May. It worked for n-reg but I in fact had to reenter all data for our return trip. I don’t know if this was because of the registration or if they‘ve improved in the meantime.
I used UK Govt GAR site with a couple of different registrations and usually it works, with one exception and that is it won’t store N-reg data for later use. You can enter and file, but it won’t keep the N-reg data in their database – no idea why, but yes, same experience here.
Another one: I recently flew The Netherlands to UK and had to file both, UK GAR and NL GenDec.eu, both ways, is this normal procedure now?
That was it. For N-reg it reportedly does not save the data for next time. I can’t confirm as I still use the old email system.
Peter wrote:
For N-reg it reportedly does not save the data for next time.
As a general statement, that is simply not true. I just logged in again, clicked on “aircraft” at the top, and it presented me with my N-reg aircraft. I was able to click on the registration and it showed me all the saved details, which I set up back in July.
The system says at the top that it is beta. It encourages feedback and has a link for providing that. I suggest that anyone having this problem report it. I have a friend who tried to use the system back in July. Both his first and last names are multiple (unhyphenated) words. The system rejected all combinations that he tried so he reported the problem and provided a screenshot of the error. They were able to identify a bug and fixed it.
Of course this type of thing is annoying if one is in a hurry just before a flight when one doesn’t have a couple days to get a resolution. In this particular situation my suggestion to anyone anticipating a future trip would be to set up all their details well in advance and report any issues so they can be resolved before the process needs to be used. It is very slick if aircraft and personal data are saved for future use. Sure, one can moan and groan that the app is not professional or error-free. That doesn’t help make it better though.
As you say @Peter, email remains an alternative but that could also stop working at any time. To each his own.
I have no dog in this fight 
– I just posted it to draw attention and invite input.
My email method is great at home but unworkable unless I have a laptop, although I could probably generate the .xlsx spreadsheet on my phone if my life depended on it. The cell formatting was done by a complete novice to spreadsheets and has loads of basic cockups, which make data entry frustrating. But the police have a script which extracts the data and sticks it into a database (they told me this) so they can’t change it.
AFAIK the only slick and phone-friendly tool for the UK GAR (I mean where you can preconfigure regular passengers) is Carl Meek’s OnlineGAR, which is £3 per form. I have used it but not recently.
This is such a basic basic basic IT project! The challenge, and why I would never embark on it, is that you need top security, a) because you are storing enough personal data to enable somebody’s bank account to be cleaned out and b) the data you get is enough to show who is probably having an affair and with who So it is funny that early on the govt site team emailed their whole name and address database as a CC to all their customers 
This is probably what Peter was referring to, the system doesn’t seem to allow one to save an N reg.
Curiously it works fine if I incorrectly insert a hyphen.
Peter wrote:
Actually I should mention that BF told me yesterday that I had been sending the wrong GAR form and they cannot upload it to some system, and have to do it by hand.
Would somebody please tell me what is going on with Border Force at Shoreham?
I submitted a GAR form inbound to EGKA and then had to face an unnecessarily aggressive telephone call from someone from BF saying that I hadnt submitted a GAR form despite them referring to the information that could only be found on the GAR form.
When I pointed out that I had, over the past few years, submitted hundreds of GAR forms, with 100% success, using OnlineGAR and that if they did not receive it, for whatever reason, it must be a problem with their system, they became even more agitated.
A cynic would say that this done to prevent pilots flying to Shoreham so that BF dont have to visit the airfield, for another sodding GA flight.
Any local advice on any “special procedures” needed to keep BF happy at Shoreham would be welcomed, clearly the system that works perfectly well for the rest of the UK doesnt work at EGKA …. according to the BF
The irony of course is that they have zero interest in UK/EU passport holders who have actually filled in the form. I’ve not seen anyone from BF for any of inbounds this year.
from someone from BF saying that I hadnt submitted a GAR form despite them referring to the information that could only be found on the GAR form
There has been a recent change in how GAR are distributed: email to NCU was decommissioned briefly but now rolled back as before, online API submissions are not reaching some local units…having “GAR lost” these days is not an unheard of (they do get flight plans and notifications from ATC, AFIS, AG of inbound foreign flights)
What I suggest is to get name & email of the caller and forward GAR manually to them and any reference or email, not getting it on the other end is not a “pilot problem” but doing the above helps a bit while things are getting upgraded (or downgraded depending how you look at IT solutions), you won’t hear any issues after that unless you visit a new place
I never understood the problem with email to NCU? it was working fine but if it’s working and not broken, why they wanted to fix it? it seems to me someone got a juicy contract with huge paycheck to get that Govt website live and wanted everybody to sit on it
