Obviously one can do it via say Cherbourg but today I heard that one pilot was given a talking-to by the police for it. I also recall a presentation about a year ago where they said travelling to the Channel Islands via some other airport is not allowed. I don’t believe they have the power to do anything about it though – it’s just authority abuse which is endemic in some parts of the police.
It used to be possible to/from airports which had police presence e.g. Bournemouth EGHH, Biggin Hill EGKB. Then something changed and this stopped. But I vaguely recall it was sorted out to some degree; maybe you have to do the GAR but the notice is a lot shorter.
Is there any process for doing such a trip at a short notice, say 1hr, by contacting the UK police directly?
After all, what is the actual purpose of the 12-24hr notice period? Or any other notice period e.g. the various PNR periods for Customs in mainland Europe. AIUI, it is there purely to give them time to turn up (or not) without telling you they will (or will not) turn up, enabling them to cover more airports with a given manpower.
As I understand it, for the airports that are designated, you must submit a GAR in advance, but there is no time period for the notification. So you could file the GAR and then walk out to the aircraft and take off.
Regarding going to Cherbourg and then CI, anything that the UK police say about that has to be without jurisdiction. UK laws can not have any say of the travel arrangements of a person who is legally in France. If they complained to me about that, I’d make detailed notes at the time, and then make a formal complaint.
Been there, done that.
A couple of years ago, I was going to CI for the first time, flying with my father in law with all the gear and the ladies flying commercial with the kids. So not a lot of room for not getting there unless it was weather related. I knew about the GAR requirement back to England, and had asked about Guernsey airport about any requirements outbound. Catch: they have their own GAR that you fill out when you land, and that was the answer I got.
So there I was, at the hold at Denham all ready to go, with a controller that strongly suggested the I call Birder Force. I had a bit of an argument with Mr BD, as I explained the situation and suggested that he took the needed details over the phone – I know, whishful thinking. I didn’t quite call him a p****, but something close (not my best moment).
Changed filing to Cherbourg and then a new filing for Guernsey, hey presto. The unusual long hold before being allowed to land was for a reason, and I was greeted by both Guernsey Custom and police when I landed. Giving all my details, he asked if I had only landed in Cherbourg to get around the GAR rule, as that was their suspicion. I answered an honest “yes” and that ended the interview. It turns out Mr MD had called them asking them to look out for me (Note: so they do actually get the flight plans, I guess), and while perfectly legal they advised not to do it, as UK BD get quite upset.
I was also advised that the UK Police probably wanted to talk to me on my return, and I am actually a bit disappointed that they never called me in for the interview. I would have enjoyed the part where they explain why they need a GAR, when I can jump on to any commercial flight and not once show passport or any for of ID.
I had an interesting experience when calling for PPR at a charming private strip in the UK. No names, no pack drill…. I was discussing the problem I was going to have with the 12 hour notice for the GAR to the Channel Islands. The owner of the strip (who was obviously a very influential local dignitary), simply could not understand the problem. “My dear chap… Simply telephone these rather helpful gentlemen [Special Branch on 2 UK telephone numbers] and they will just do it over the phone”. The wonderful, helpful owner of the strip just didn’t have any experience of people being difficult with him. The innocence was absolutely glorious.
Needless to say, I am not an influential local dignitary, so never tested the idea. I suspect I would have been given very short shrift had I actually ‘phoned (and it was a Sunday). I flew to Cherbourg instead, and had a lovely cup of coffee and a chat with Luc and Edith at the airport restaurant. I then remembered I’d left the kettle on at home, and flew back to Guernsey – nobody paid any interest in our arrival via Cherbourg.
Doesn’t help with the Q, but I thought it interesting that there must be ongoing exceptions to the rule. I also thought something was in the pipeline to bring the 12 hours down to 4?
@mmgreve if I read you right, you are saying the FISO at Denham phoned up Guernsey and told them to expect you via Cherbourg? That would be outrageous, but there have been several cases of UK A/G / FISOs acting in this (unprofessional) way. I have never seen ATCOs do that. A year or two ago one inbound flight was refused a landing at some field east of London, because they didn’t have a GAR for him! The airfield is not entitled to see the GAR (much as they like to pretend otherwise) because it’s confidential data and they would need to be registered under the DPA 
The mainland police is 100% hot on Channel Islands / CTA GARs, meeting probably 100% of flights for which they don’t have one. So if they didn’t meet you on your UK return, it’s obvious that they knew they had nothing to go on.
I also thought something was in the pipeline to bring the 12 hours down to 4?
That was proposed 3 years ago – posted here I have no idea how far it got.
The FISO refused me a take-off clearance if I had not filed the GAR, and advised me to call Border Force after I said I didn’t think I need one. I know, he can’t refuse my departure, but if you’re based at the airfield you have an interest in remaining on good terms.
I then shut down and called Thames Valley police (if I recall correctly) and ran my head against the wall with them. I may have told him that I would figure something out, which prompted him to keep an eye on the flight plans, and phone up Guernsey when he saw me filing for Cherbourg.
Few of us have time or inclination to read any Act of Parliament these days, but those who do will know that there’s no requirement in the Terrorism Act 2000 to submit a “GAR” form to anyone.
If flying to or from a non-designated port we have to give at least 12 hours notice in writing to a constable. The form and content of any such notice in writing is not specified but (a) it need not include passenger information and (b) it can not include details such as time of flight or alternates which can only be lawfully determined after publication of Met Office forms 214 and 215.
In practice, an email saying that “pursuant to paragraph 12(3)(b) of Schedule 7 to the TA 2000, Maule N280SA may be employed on multiple flights between Glenswinton and one or more airfields in the vicinity of the North West 200 TT circuit during the first two weeks of May 2016, subject to weather” is the best one can do. Then if the spooks want pax info, they can submit a written request in accordance with paragraph 17(2).
That for that input Jacko. It doesn’t surprise me (I did know about the “notice to a constable” which is hilarious when visualised literally ) but I wonder if anyone has actually tested it.
Peter wrote:
The mainland police is 100% hot on Channel Islands / CTA GARs, meeting probably 100% of flights for which they don’t have one.
Is that because of their sense of professional pride being hurt or is there some (semi)rational reason for flights to/from the CI being particularly suspect? I could understand (Northern) Ireland 20+ years ago, but the CI??
The whole GAR thing for CI/IoM/NI is just a waste of time. They say they need it to build up patterns of travel for prevention of terror, but if they need it to build up patterns, why the 12 hour notice period? A simple notification should be enough. Or even merely filing a flight plan. The 12 hour period is draconian. Also the pressure it puts pilots under to press on into bad weather has probably caused at least one accident in the last few years (there was a fatal 5 or 6 years ago on a flight from Andreas to Northern Ireland where the pilot kept pressing on into bad weather).
The stupidity of it is if you want to fly a microlight that can barely lift the weight of two people from NI to Eire you have to tell the police 12 hours in advance, but if you want to drive a Land Rover filled with suspect people, you can just do it without telling anyone. Same thing with boats. You can sail a boat over to NI whenever you like without telling the Police.
The Red Tape challenge recommended the GAR for the CTA get scrapped. Sadly, in the response there was a bunch of guff about “needing to know travel patterns” so it will probably never go away.
