London Banter - View Single Post

Roland Perry · March 22nd 10, 10:50 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In message , at 10:15:36 on Mon, 22 Mar
2010, d remarked:

I have had my passport photocopied dozens of times in hotels and company
offices all over the world. Some offices make you leave your passport with

Bully for you. I haven't.

All that shows is a lack of relevant experience.

Or that I've stayed in decent hotels and worked for sane companies.

them and exchange it for a security pass while you are in the building.

Who do you work for, MI6?

It's not commonplace, but sometimes an office will ask for a passport in
exchange for the normal "Visitors pass", perhaps to ensure that you
check out of the building properly when you leave.

Not commonplace? Thats putting it mildly. I worked in the City for 10 years
and I never saw it even there.

You seem to have missed the "all over the world" part.

Passport for proof of id when joining the
company? Sure. Passport to go to a meeting elsewhere? Do me a favour.

It's part of the "ID card culture" that is extremely commonplace in most
of the rest of the world.

I've no idea where you people work but it must be somewhere near Paranoia
City. You might want to check for bugs under your desks while you're at it.

I do visit high security locations from time to time, but an example of
an almost-public-building with a "leave your passport at the security
desk" rule is one of the bigger offices of the European Commission in
Brussels. eg the equivalent of somewhere like whatever the DTI's called
this week.

The European Parliament building requires you to log your laptop in (but
curiously, not back out again - because the rule is probably to stop
people stealing laptops from inside the building). Same rule in the
Library of Congress (Washington). No such rule in the Palace of
Westminster - I could tell you about a building in London that does, but
then I'd have to kill you

--
Roland Perry