Border officials ‘relaxed checks for coach passengers four years ago’

A relaxation quietly introduced under the last Labour administration to ease queues at the port of Dover in 2007 was only halted 10 days ago when senior border officials were suspended, the Sunday Telegraph said.

Officials checked only if passport photographs matched the bearers, the newspaper said, and did not cross-check against computer databases of suspected terrorists, criminals and immigration offenders.

The extent of the watering down of security, such as whether it applied to other ports and was only employed at peak periods, remained unclear last night but the number of arrivals involved was estimated to be in the millions.

A Home Office spokesman said he was unable to discuss the claims because of the ongoing inquiry into unauthorised relaxations of controls, in what appeared to be an indication that they formed part of the probe.

But MPs will seek more information tomorrow when the Home Affairs Committee questions Brodie Clark, the former head of the UK Border Force who quit his post amid an acrimonious dispute with Home Secretary Theresa May.

Mr Clark was suspended last week by UK Border Agency chief Rob Whiteman, who says he admitted allowing border staff to relax checks beyond the extent of a pilot scheme authorised by Mrs May.

He denies exceeding his authority and has left his post to pursue a claim of constructive dismissal.

Labour MP Keith Vaz, who chairs the committee which will also hear from Mr Whiteman and Immigration Minister Damian Green, said the latest claims raised “serious concerns about the history of checks undertaken”.