First time traveller (Heathrow Arrival)
 

My in-laws are travelling from India to meet their son working for City Council in UK. They are old and are first time travellers overseas. Appreciate if you can help me with these things:
1. At Heathrow terminal 3 i guess Immigration, Baggage Reclaim & Customs happens in the same sequential order? Is that correct?
2. They will be carrying a handycam, some food items in addition to their clothes? Can they pass through the green channel?
3. My brother-in-law will pick them up at the airport but just in case some problem occurs will they be able to exchange Indian Rupees to UKP.

Thanks for all the help.

Nilesh: try www.baa.com/heathrow.

You have the sequence right under 1, I wouldn't have thought they'd have much trouble under 2 (though I have no idea about Customs regulations on food - try checking the Customs website or www.defra.gov.uk), and there are exchange booths (and telephones) in the baggage reclaim hall and once you're past customs.

1. Yes, that's correct. They should be prepared for large queues at immigration.
2. No problem going through the green channel, but they need to be careful about certain food stuffs. Basically meat, milk or any other animal food products are banned. You can read more at
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsP...yType=document
3. I would be very surprised if they couldn't exchange rupees at one of the many exchange bureaus dotted all over Heathrow, given the large Indian Expat community here. They can also get cash using a credit card from all the exchange bureaus, or from an ATM machine if they have a 4 digit pin number.

Thanks Patrick & Kate. Really appreciate your response.

1. I have handed them a map of Heathrow Arrivals and wrote instructions on a paper. Hope they will be able to manage.
2. They are carrying food items but it is only some homemade cookies, pastries & some Indian spices. There is no milk, meat or animal products. So I guess they should be Ok.
3. Once at the Shanghai airport I had problem converting Rupees to Yuans. Was worried because of that. But yup you are right, because of the large expat community they should be able to do it.

Thanks a lot for all the help. I'll let you know how they managed the stuff on Monday. Cheers!!

You mention spices. There has been concern lately over some food colouring in some spices. See what you can find out about that. It would be a shame if they were frisked over spices.

I'd have thought it very unlikely Customs would stop and search them anyway. The spice issue was about commercial suppliers letting dubious chemicals get into mass-produced processed foods - family cooking is still AYOR!

On the other hand, the thought occurred that they should make sure they have their return tickets to hand in case the immigration authorities get it into their heads they might be planning to overstay.

Kate, Patrick & icithecat

They reached safely on Monday and are at Southampton now. They direct went outside after immigration and thankfully did not have to go through the immigration.

BTW my fiancee also decided to travel with them for 3 weeks so i'm all alone here in India. Can;t wait till she is back on 16th July.

Thanks a lot. Appreciate all your help.

Thanks for reporting back. Hope they all have a great time!