Might be a silly question,but where and who give them to drivers,what are they for.Suppose you cant get in without one,which port does this operate.?
they are supplied by the ports that use them, which is Felixstowe and Thamesport (at the moment), they are free to obtain, but you will be charged if you need a replacement due to losing it.
they hold a biometric scan of your hand, it is uploaded onto your card when you collect it, and the hand is scanned every time you book in to any of the ports that use the system.
at Felixstowe, you can enter up to 3 times by obtaining a day permit from the pass office at the back of the police station, at Thamesport, if you have ID, they will supply a card there and then, but they do operate a “no card, no box” policy
the purpose of the cards is to make it more secure when collecting containers from the ports, it will confirm the identity of the person who collected it if the need arises.
Security man told me that numerous expensive new imported 4x4`s were driven over a home made bridge of pallets,to nick the cars from the port,the cop shop was not far away,gathered it was Nigerian men involved.Keys supllied in the motors.This was a few years ago now.some red faces to answer over that.
i think that was Tilbury dock
also, that part of a port does not use the RHIDES card, they are for the container terminals