Border Force failed to carry out full enquiries when staff stopped a man at the UK border

What happened

Mr D arrived in the UK from Spain and was stopped at the UK border. Border Force made some enquiries of the NHS and believed he was accessing NHS treatment to which he was not entitled. Border Force refused Mr D entry to the UK. It decided to detain him overnight and he was escorted to an immigration removal centre in handcuffs.

What we found

We partly upheld this case. When Border Force was making enquiries about whether Mr D was accessing NHS treatment, it should have interviewed Mr D's partner. However, we did not find that Mr D's partner would have been able to give Border Force significantly more information and so we found no injustice arising from this failure.

Border Force's guidance on handcuffing passengers when they are being escorted was unclear at the time of these events. However, the decision to handcuff Mr D was reasonable. We also noted that Border Force had recently changed the guidance to clarify when handcuffs should be used.

Putting it right

We did not find that Border Force's actions caused Mr D any injustice. We made no recommendations for Border Force.