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‘Long walk to Patchway’ for asylum seekers

By Pamela Parkes  Monday Dec 15, 2014

More than 500 asylum seekers in Bristol say a Home Office decision to stop them signing-in at Trinity Road police station, is a form of “bureaucratic punishment”.

All asylum seekers have to sign-in weekly or fortnightly at police stations and, until October this year, the central sign-in point was at Trinity Road police station in Bristol city centre.

However, when the cells at the Trinity were closed, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) moved the operation to Patchway police station, which is a 14 mile round journey from the city centre.

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‘Beg money’

As a result of this move, refugee rights groups claim people are struggling to get to the centre and many are missing whole days of school and college, because of the time it takes to travel to Patchway, and back to their homes. 

One asylum seeker, a mother of four said: “It often takes me two hours to get to Patchway with the bus. I am always worried when I go to signing. I have been detained twice before.

“I always think about the people at the desk, what are they going to say, what are they going to ask, what are they going to do. It is scary seeing them.”

The cost of bus fares to travel to sign-in is another concern for refugee groups. Only asylum seekers who receive support from the Home Office can claim travel costs.

Campaigners claim this is forcing many people to walk to Patchway, or continually ask for the money to pay for the bus fare.  One man, from the Ivory Coast, said he has to walk to Patchway, or beg for his bus money.

‘No consultation’

Claire, from Dignity for Asylum Seekers, said the decision to close Trinity Road was taken “without any form of consultation” with any of the refugee groups in Bristol. She added that they could see no reason to close the signing-in point at Trinity Road and, “if people are detained, they could be easily transported to Patchway”.

In a statement, a spokesman for Sue Mountstevens, Avon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner, said she has met with the UKBA and told them that they “are welcome to use Trinity Road or any other city centre police station” as a signing in point, and she is “continuing to speak to the UKBA” about the situation.

‘Case-by-case’

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The relocation of our reporting centre in Bristol has been necessary because of the closure of the police custody suite at Trinity Road police station. At times we require the use of custody facilities in order to detain immigration offenders.

“Regular reporting to the Home Office is a vital part of our work to progress cases as quickly as possible, to encourage the voluntary return of people who have no legal right to remain in the UK and to arrest and remove offenders where necessary.

“We provide support, considered on a case by case basis, for those who have difficulties travelling to Patchway to report.”

Refugee groups will be calling on Bristol City Councillors to back the campaign at a meeting on Tuesday night. They are also planning a protest in Bristol City Centre on Wednesday morning.

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