Olympic Gold:
Other The
THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPICS ARRIVALS EXPERIENCE
An interview with Tony Smith, UKBA / Border Force Olympic Gold Commander, London 2012, conducted by Matthew Finn.
reported that immigration queues at Heathrow were "unacceptably" long. Criticism of immigration controls, a Home Office responsibility, came as thousands of athletes and visitors were due to arrive in the capital over the following three weeks for the busiest arrivals period in Heathrow’s history. It added that the Border Force should be "delivering a good experience for regular passengers as well as Olympic visitors". Meanwhile Tony Smith, Olympic Gold Commander for UKBA and Border Force Olympic Programme, was preparing to deliver the “Olympic vision” that he set as Senior Responsible Owner for the Programme back in 2007 - to deliver a “safe, secure and inspirational” Olympic Games where passengers and goods could “move swiftly and easily” across the UK Border, whilst
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n 2 July 2012, ahead of the London 2012 Olympic Games, the British Airports Authority
those that would cause harm would be “denied the privileges of Britain through the intelligent use of controls and technology.” Heathrow handled around 237,000 passengers on 16 July 2012, a new record and up from its average of 190,000 a day due to the influx of London 2012 Olympic Games participants. This figure rose still higher on 26 July 2012 – the day before the Olympic Opening Ceremony. But for the Border Force this was not just a matter of passenger volumes – there was also a large number of Heads of State and Olympic Games Family Members to process as well. All against the backdrop of threatened industrial action by the Public and Commercial Services Union, which was called off at the eleventh hour.
So how did it all turn out? Well the
TV cameras waiting eagerly outside Heathrow for stories of delays at the Border were met instead by smiling athletes saying that the Heathrow
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experience was “a piece of cake”. There were no queues at Border Control. Instead passengers and athletes were met by Team Heathrow – a genuine and collaborative effort between the London Organising Committee (LOCOG), the BAA and the Border Force. The President of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, said that hiccups such as long immigration queues at Heathrow airport had been solved. Several positive tweets were received from commentators such as Alastair Campbell and Gavin Estler as they passed through the control. Former Olympic Triple Jump Gold medallist and
BBC commentator
Jonathan Edwards even took time out during the Games to say well done to the Border Force, acknowledging the pressure they had been under. So what was all the fuss about? And what was it really like to be in charge of an operation like this? We spoke to Tony Smith during a brief gap in his
August 2012 Aviationsecurityinternational
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