Virgin Atlantic still assisting Home Office with deportations after announcing it would stop

Exclusive: Airline agrees to deport man to Nigeria day after announcing it would end practice

Airline tells lawyers the policy to stop transporting immigrants from the UK will not be implemented until 1 August, and that deportations are continuing on their flights until this date (Getty)

Virgin Atlantic is still helping the Home Office carry out deportations despite announcing it was banning the practice last week.

The airline had agreed to deport a man to Nigeria on Saturday – a day after announcing the decision. The only reason he wasn’t removed was because the Home Office agreed to consider new representations following legal intervention.

Virgin Atlantic told lawyers representing the Nigerian man its decision to stop transporting immigrants from the UK will not be implemented until 1 August, and that deportations are continuing on their flights until this date.

It is not known whether there were any other deportees on the flight or whether there are other deportations scheduled for July, but the lawyers said it was likely.

Virgin Atlantic said on Friday that it would no longer help the Home Office carry out involuntary deportations, saying the decision was “in the best interest of [its] customers and people”.

The decision followed months of pressure on the government over the Windrush scandal, which saw people who arrived in Britain legally decades ago threatened with deportation because they lacked proof of their status.

Helen Seeger, a case worker at Duncan Lewis Solicitors, said she was “baffled” after she contacted Virgin Atlantic flight regarding the Nigerian client’s removal notice for Saturday morning and was told it would still be going ahead because the policy wasn’t coming into force until August.

“I called them to inform them that we had a client scheduled on their flight and they said the policy wasn’t being implemented until 1 August,” she said.

“We had to submit a case for the Home Office to consider medical evidence instead, which was successful.

“But if they’ve decided deporting people on their flights is wrong then why isn’t it wrong now? That’s a whole months’ worth of people going to be removed after they’ve decided they won’t be doing it. It’s very frustrating.”

She added: “These are not always people who have had adequate legal representation or a chance to put their claims together properly. It’s great that they’re changing their minds but I’m baffled as to why they have to do it in a month’s time.”

Toufique Hossain, director of the immigration team at Duncan Lewis, said the Home Office’s policy of not giving deportees details of their removal flights in advance meant it was impossible to know whether other deportations were planned for July, but said it was ”likely”.

“We don’t know for sure, but it is likely,” he said, adding: “It is somewhat unusual for them to put out a politically driven statement - as this was not a business decision, it was political - but for them to say that comes into effect in August is very strange.”

Sam Bjorn, a spokesperson from Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSM), a campaign group which put pressure on the airline to stop assisting the Home Office with deportations, said waiting until August to implement the policy was “not good enough”.

“Virgin stopping deportations on their flights is great news, but waiting another month to implement this is simply not good enough for the many people at risk from being taken against their will to countries where they could be in danger or have very little connection to,” he said.

“Deportations are tearing apart communities here in the UK and we can’t wait another month for Virgin to stop them. And we need other companies like British Airways to follow their example and commit to end all forced deportations on their flights.

Both Virgin Atlantic and the Home Office refused to comment.