Since when did the UK not check travel documents on airport departures?

Question

All countries check travel documents on arrivals. Some check on departure too.

In UK there is no border control on airport departures.

It was not always like this, because I have seen stamps in old passports.

When was decided that everyone is fine on the way out?

@stephanmg Checked by whom and where? Was a stamp put into your passport? What does the stamp say? — DavidRecallsMonica, Commented Dec 23, 2020 at 20:22
Somebody is going to glance over your passport on departure, at least an airline employee will make sure that you have a passport (or other valid travel document for your itinerary) and that it's yours (and the name matches the ticket). I'm assuming this question is about a centralized departure check where everyone lines up and has to go to an immigration officer's booth to be stamped out, which is not done in the UK. — Zach Lipton, Commented Dec 23, 2020 at 21:32
you can also check en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport_stamp#United_Kingdom : The UK Border Force only stamps the travel documents of travellers entering the UK [...] — Grand Torini, Commented Dec 23, 2020 at 22:38
@stephanmg it's forbidden for EU/EEA/Swiss passports and for family members of EEA citizens who have a residence card under the free movement directive. It's mandatory for everyone else, probably with some other exceptions I've overlooked. And it's never done in departure, even if some official does inspect the passport for some reason (which is not done regularly). — phoog, Commented Dec 24, 2020 at 1:47

canonacer · Accepted Answer · 2020-12-24 07:21:26Z

10

According to this article on BBC News, it was in April 1998 that UK Immigration stopped embarkation checks: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/66236.stm

answered Dec 24, 2020 at 7:21

canonacer

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And, might I add, the exit stamp was triangular and said "Embarked"
– Crazydre
Commented Dec 24, 2020 at 12:56

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