Sarah Ticherou

Starting out....

When I first started this role, I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly had an idea of what I thought was the role of the British Vice-consulates. Even some of my family and friends joked about working for the Consulate as being all cocktail parties and G&T’s.The reality is somewhat different.

The Corfu BVC is part of a larger Greek network and one of the largest consular networks the FCO has. The British Embassy is based in Athens and there are Vice-Consulates in Corfu, Crete, Rhodes, Kos, Zakynthos and Thessaloniki, with Honorary Consuls in Patras and Syros. Even though we are isolated on our islands, there is a great support system amongst all the vice-consuls across the network. There is a system of sharing best practice which is a real comfort, especially to a new recruit like me. It’s great to know that at the end of the phone at anytime of day there is someone to talk things over with. This sense of being one team has proved invaluable.

I couldn’t have imagined the amount of different consular cases we come across on a daily basis. From accidents on quad bikes to binge drinking and assaults I can safely say that no two incidents are ever the same. Obviously our incident workload increases dramatically during the summer period of May to October, with Corfu alone playing host to nearly half a million visitors. There is a wide-range of people holidaying here and like a lot of the other Greek islands, we have a very lively youth resort in Kavos. Because we are small teams in each network post we are kept extremely busy every day – both during and out of office hours. We do offer the facility of 24-hour emergency cover, which means we are always available to help British nationals in distress. There are some things I have been asked by holidaymakers so far that I haven’t been able to help with, such as improving the quality of food at a hotel (they didn’t like the courgettes!) but where there is a genuine emergency we are always ready to offer support.

The number of people who get into difficult situations on holiday was also a surprise - one of the posts recently had 18 arrests in a day. The back office work that comes with this which includes liaising with the police, the courts, lawyers and family members can be overwhelming - its difficult enough when its just one case. But I think starting at the busiest time of the year has actually proved to be more of a help than a hindrance. On the job training is often the best way to learn, and I can safely say that I am getting bucket loads of it.

Posted at 13:07 14 August 2008 by Sarah Ticherou  |  Comments[5]