//…on my first trip to Europe since Covid (new Blue British passport in hand), on arrival non-EU nationals had to join a long queue rather than using the automated passport reading route. Plus each non-EU national given the third-degree by border staff, asking what the purpose of their visit was, how long, return flight arrangements, stamping their passport etc. The same thing happened on departure, with separate queues for EU and non-EU nationals.//
You must have been really unlucky, Hymie. I have made six trips to Europe in the past 18 months or so and on every occasion I have passed through customs and border control with next to no delay. In fact on some occasions it has taken me longer to get back into the UK than it did to enter my European destinations.
It seems quite incredible really that most normal countries (i.e. those outside the EU) seem able to cope without the sort of behaviour by their border staff that you suffered in the EU. What the EU could really do with is transferring some of their border staff to the Italian island of Lampedusa where there are some real “undesirables” seeking to enter their territory (as opposed to people seeking to enter just to spend a load of their money).
// Perhaps for UK nationals, EU countries could have one queue for those who voted for Brexit and one for those who did not.//
What I’d really like is for the UK to provide a “UK Passport Holders only” channel at our ports and airports.