Al & The Blackcats Refused Entry Into The UK..

Joined : 19 May 2008 Posts : 5

Al & The Blackcats Refused Entry Into UK By British Immigration!

Saturday 03rd May 2008 was to see Al & The Blackcats return to to Manchester for their Exclusive U.K. tour. However, as they attempted to enter the country they were detained for not having the correct work permits and entry visa's. On short notice Manchester rockers, The 50's Flyers stepped in and saved the night. Cheshire Cat Tom worked feverish to keep the pace and maintain the momentum. Both did a superb job from what I hear!
Back to the night.. By 10pm it was evident that Al and the Blackcats was not going to make it. There had been no word from the band and neither Noeline or Val from Pollytone Records knew what had gone disastrously wrong. It wasn't until the Sunday when all had come clear. It transpired that UK immigration officials had failed to send the band their proper documentation.
They also failed to notify the venue and Noeline. Officials had promised to make telephone calls on behalf of the band to explain the problem. I received this letter from Al explaining what had gone wrong:

Dear All..

We did everything humanly possible to get into the U.K. We had applied for our work permits several weeks ago. When they didn't arrive, we were told they would arrive. they didn't. When we went to the border Saturday morning, we asked them to check out our application. They said they would. They didn't. We asked them to call the venues. They said they would. They didn't. They kept us locked in detention for over 6 hours, so even if we had been approved, we never would have made it in time to make Saturday's show. Sundays maybe.

We were assured that both venues were notified that we had been turned away at the border. They were not, and we did not find out until today.

We are sorry. We tried everything humanly possible to play those shows, short of swimming across the channel in the middle of the night.

Hopefully, some day, musicians will be exempt fro "paying for the privilege" to entertain our fans, employ bartenders, servers, promoters, etc.

And most importantly, someday, the bureaucratic government agencies that rule this world, will actually do what they are paid to do.

We love, Pollytone Records, Noeline of The Nifty Fifties and all our fans. We make this promise. If they ever let us back into the U.K., we will play two shows for absolutely free. And play as long as the fans want.

Al

Val, promotor and ordaniser from Pollytone Records went on to say: "This has been truly a nightmare.. I've already started to plan and organise their appearance in October. I've applied now for their work permits and entry visas so hopefully there will not any problem".