This case happened when we were still working as private vehicle drivers but had already started our airport liaison service. We had been booked to pick up a couple of teenage girls who were flying in from Israel. When the girls did not appear at the arrivals gate long after the flight had landed, we contacted the mobile number they had provided at the time of booking. One of the girls picked up the phone and through frantic tears explained, in Hebrew, that the immigration officers weren’t allowing them into the country.
I asked if I could speak to the border control agent, who explained to me that when he asked the girls why they were coming to England they had replied that they were going to camp. He explained that since they had no parental confirmation that they were sending the girls to camp, they couldn’t just allow two young girls to enter the country with no adult supervision.
I requested to speak to the girls again and asked them what the story was. They told me that they were cousins who were coming to stay with their grandparents over the summer holidays, and as part of their summer programme they would be attending a local day camp. The camp was not a sleepaway camp, but a day camp that provided fun activities and day trips for teenage girls.
The girls told me that they couldn’t speak English very well, and when the border agent asked them why they were coming, the only word in English they could think of was “camp.”
I asked the girls who their grandparents were and given that they are members of the Orthodox Jewish Community, I knew her grandparents very well. I spoke to the border control agent and explained to them exactly what the circumstances were, and that given that I knew the family I was willing to take full responsibility for the girls and take them to their grandparents.
I was asked to go to the immigration desk where the girls confirmed that their parents had hired me to drive them from the airport to the grandparents, and with that confirmation their passports were stamped and they were happily allowed into the country.
Flyaison Case Involvement:
- Managed to glean full story from non-English speakers and translated to Immigration Officer
- Explained in a calm rational manner and managed to calm down a couple of tearful teens, much to the relief of Immigration agents.
- Our intimate knowledge of the Jewish Community allowed us to take temporary parental control of the girls and deliver them safely to their grandparents.
