New Parliamentary Passes Are Very James Bond
Just been over to get my new Parliamentary security pass - along with half the estate. (It's Room U today for anyone who's still thinking about doing the upgrade this week.)Not sure about the new green colour of the pass, but I have every hope that it will mean that staff manning the Parliamentary facilities will mistake me for an MP and I can get myself some priority treatment this week. :-/
The new passes require holders to input a 4 digit pin code and hold the pass near the reader - as there is a proximity detector.
I know that for many of us remembering several password codes can become a chore, but just to warn you if you put in something memorable like "1-1-1-1" or "1-2-3-4", your code WILL be rejected.
Of course, having to actually think about your code first thing in the morning will always cause problems for some staff - which means you will be reliant on instead answering a question concerning "a number that is important to you" that will ensure your pass isn't confiscated and you aren't taken outside and shot.
The numbers that are "important" and memorable are suggested as follows:
+ Your partner's birthday
+ Your father's birthday
+ Your passport number
+ Your bank sort code
+ Your marriage date
With the best will in the world, I very much doubt I could remember any of these in numerical form when rushing in to work first thing in the morning. I struggled with remembering who Mr. Bushey was that one time, and it almost cost me my phone! I'm not making that mistake again.
Fortunately there is an option for "other date" - so I put in my own birthday. Which I'm pretty sure I got right. ;-)
The other thing you will notice about your new pass is the brand new lanyard. There has been some speculation that this has been introduced to cut down on members within certain trade unions escalating their factional disputes with each other, but in fact it is to do with the new invention which allows the pass to be pulled out on a piece of cheese-wire from the lanyard so it can reach the proximity detector.
At least I presume that is what this cheese-wire is for. I suppose there is every possibility it is to make it easier for members of Serjeant at Arms to garrotte intruders to the Parliamentary estate.
I saw it in James Bond once, so it could definitely happen. ;-)
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Labels: green pass, James Bond, parliament, serjeant at arms
posted by Kerron @ 11:28 AM
10 Comments:
Should you be making your pass number known (your birthday date)?
You would have to put your 4 digit pin in first. That's the fail safe.
If anyone wants to grow a beard and pretend to be me then that is very sad indeed.
Although if they know my birthday I'd expect at least a card in those circumstances. :-)
Yes, I thought that. When I used to work in central government we were told off for keeping our passes on when we went for lunch as it would be a security threat if people could identify civil servants. That was in the 'slightly less of a target to terrorists than parliament' of Defra. Prepare for certain people to go apesh*t if they read this entry.
No Kerron, the back up number is for if you forget your pin... sweet Jesus you are a cretin sometimes...
It is possible to take the lanyard off and replace it with your chosen (I hope T&G) union lanyard.
But you'd have to keep the new lanyard on as well in order to use the extendable wire.
a) To allow your pass to reach the readers
and
b) To allow you to garrotte people.
:-/
Wrong Kerron, you can take the black lanyard off (its got a clip on it) and clip your T&G lanyard to the top of the plastic garotte holder.
How do you get the old lanyard off though? There is no clip. :-(
So does this mean now that on every door where there was a card reader, you have to type your PIN in when the new system goes live? You're all going to have RSI by the end of the week!
Good for people to know.
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