Waterguard - The Work - Fellow Travelers

OFFICIAL TRAVEL

Most Waterguard 'Official Travelling' was undertaken on the 'station' - between the office and the site of the work to be performed - or from 'home' to a Detached Duty 'station', but there were other instances where there was more at stake than just transport. These instances involved officers travelling with the passengers by sea, air and rail as part of their working conditions.

CUNARD


			In order to facilitate the speedy Customs clearance of the First Class 'VIP' passengers at Southampton's Ocean Terminal in the 1950's and 1960's, Cunard paid the costs for two of the Southampton Preventive Officers to travel with the 'RMS Queen Mary', 'RMS Queen Elizabeth' and 'RMS Queen Elizabeth II' on their transatlantic service between New York and Southampton. As well as dealing with passenger's baggage clearance prior to arrival at Southampton, these officers also began the clearance of the 1000+ ship's crew to their C142 Customs Declaration. A similar arrangement was made at Liverpool during the 1950's. Liverpool staff travelled to Cork in the Republic of Ireland to join Cunard vessels from New York to affect the clearance of UK bound passengers. This practice was revived by the Collector Southampton for a short period in the late 1970's but had to be abandoned when fluctuating currency exchange rates caused cash accounting difficulties for A&CG.

CYPRUS

Officers serving with the SBA Customs based at RAF Akrotiri flew to Ankara in the AOC's VIP Argosy every year in the early summer. The aircraft collected the top brass and important politicians of various countries so that they could witness a NATO bombing competition held at the bombing range in Episkopi Bay. The Customs Officer travelled to carry out customs and immigration clearance on the way back from Ankara.

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DOVER - LONDON

From about 1850 passengers from Paris, via the 'night mail' to Dover, had been able to clear their luggage at London Bridge instead of Dover. The luggage was registered in Paris and placed in locked vans in charge of the railway guard 'til their delivery in London. In 1856 the Directors of the South Eastern Railway sought a similar privilege for passengers arriving in London from Amiens and Boulogne by the special 'tidal trains' via the port of Folkestone. The 1856 HM Customs Report contained a report of the request. Select the 'button' on the right to view a PDF copy of the relevant extract from that report.

::: HM Customs Report about the clearance

of Railway Passengers - 1856 :::

In 1936, Customs approval was granted to Southern Railways to operate a 'sleeper car' service between Paris and London via Dover. Select the 'button' on the right to see a copy of the approval.

::: HM Customs approval of the Paris to

London service - 1936 :::

After World War II, Paris' Gare du Nord Station was linked with London's Victoria Station by 'Night Ferry' train services via Dover and Dunkirk. Passengers using this service were cleared both inwards and outwards at Victoria Station which required them to be segregated from 'internal' passengers travelling between London and Dover. Dover based Assistant Preventive Officers were assigned to 'train escort' duties to maintain the segregation. The officers worked two shifts - an 0600-1400 shift to cover London bound trains and a 1700-0100 shift to cover Paris bound trains.


			The sleeper train arrived in Dover in the early morning and was joined to carriages which formed part of a normal 'internal' train service from Dover Marine Station to London Victoria. The 'train' APO sealed the carriages containing the uncleared foreign passengers, who were still in bed or just getting up. This APO then sat near the 'seal' during the journey to Victoria to ensure the two types of passengers did not mingle. The foreign passengers had breakfast on the train, as did the APO, and were given free newspapers, both foreign and UK. On arrival at Victoria the passengers were cleared by Waterguard staff at the station. The Dover APO then searched the train to make sure no goods had been left to be picked up afterwards. The train was then shunted to the Grosvenor Sidings during the day, returning to Victoria for the evening departure. From time to time the London Mobile Rummage Crew would pay it a visit during the day. In the evening, the outbound service passengers were examined at Victoria for currency control and tax free exports, and their baggage was sealed in the luggage van. The 'train' APO travelled to Dover with the cleared outwards passengers to make sure they didn't mix with the internal passengers and made sure they boarded the ship in Dover.

John Barber was an APO based at London's Victoria Station for three spells of duty in the 1960's. His memoirs of his time at this unique Waterguard Station, dealing with rail passengers from Continental Europe, Cyprus and the West Indies, are available as a PDF by selecting the 'button' on the right.

::: John Barbers Memoirs of Victoria

Station :::

Mike Smith was an APO based at Dover on Detached Duty in the 1965. His memoirs of travelling as the 'Train APO' between Dover and Victoria stations are also available as a PDF by selecting the 'button' to the right..

::: Mike Smiths Memoirs of the Dover - Victoria train duties :::

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FLYING APO's

During the 1960's the Commissioners of Customs & Excise and HM Immigration granted an application from BOAC to uplift domestic passengers at Prestwick and Manchester - with the international passengers still remaining onboard the aircraft uncleared by Customs or Immigration. The operation was supervised by an Assistant Preventive Officer who accompanied them on the aircraft at BOAC's expense.

Nine APO's worked a nine week roster at Prestwick, two weeks of which were on flying duties - 6am-2pm or 5am-1pm depending on the airline timetable. APO's flew on alternate days in case of problems such as fog and for a 5am start BOAC would provide a taxi if required. On non flying days the APO's undertook routine boarding and baggage hall duties.


			BOAC ran a daily service from Canada via Prestwick - also calling at Manchester three days a week - to Heathrow using a Boeing 707 or Vickers VC10. At Prestwick all the international passengers from Canada remaining on board for Heathrow were moved towards the forward section of the aircraft and the domestic passengers were embarked to the rear section of the cabin. When the flight called at Manchester, domestic passengers from Prestwick could disembark but international passengers from Canada could not, and domestic passengers for Heathrow could join the flight for Heathrow. The domestic luggage was given a different coloured LHR tag to the international luggage tag, and on arrival at Heathrow the international passengers left by the front exit whilst the domestic passengers left by the rear exit and were escorted to the domestic baggage hall by the APO to ensure that no international baggage was mis-routed! The APOs kept 'a flying log' showing the number of international passengers from Canada remaining on board at Prestwick, the number of domestic passengers joining the aircraft at Prestwick, the numbers of domestic passengers disembarking and joining the aircraft at Manchester and the time duties were completed at Heathrow.

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THE ISLE of MAN

During the 1950's six Waterguard officers - two baggage officers and a Rummage Crew of four - travelled to Douglas on the Isle of Man on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to clear the passenger ferry from Dublin.

THE ROYAL NAVY


			Customs crew clearance of major war ships, such as the carrier HMS Ark Royal, on returning to the UK after a tour of duty abroad, was a major exercise for the Waterguard. To facilitate the Navy with a faster service Waterguard staff from the vessels home port were often flown out to Gibraltar by the RAF to join the vessel and start the crew clearance procedure.