Belgium: British grandma who forgot passport deported
01 July 1996
A British great-grandmother who was travelling to Brussels to see her son has been thrown out of Belgium after she forgot her passport. Enid Wilson, who is 76, was refused entry under the rules of the Schengen treaty, which Britain has not signed.
Mrs Wilson left her home in Yorkshire on Monday 17 June. Although she became aware that she had forgotten her passport when she arrived at Waterloo station, she had no time to make enquiries. She assumed that on arrival in Brussels she would have to fill in some forms but that they would let her into the country. She was therefore quite surprised when the Belgian border police put her in their holding cell at Brussels station and then deported her the next day.
The incident has irritated her son, Andrew Wilson an EU civil servant, who called the incident "a clear case of abuse of power by a low-level bureaucrat". However Colonel Van den Broeck of the Rijkswacht explained to the De Morgen newspaper that Schengen rules clearly state that in order to enter Belgium from borders external to the Schengen area a person must have a passport. Colonel Van en Broek stated:"I admit that when I look at the photo in the paper she doesn't look much like a gangster, but the rules are the rules."
De Morgen, 21.6.96.