I was not surprised to read that London immigration firms may pull out of the fast-track Harmondsworth pilot scheme (see [2003] Gazette 10 July, 1).

We are also on the scheme and have had severe difficulties.

We usually receive a telephone call on a Sunday telling us that a client has an interview the next day.

We have to prepare to take instructions in the morning for the interview is in the afternoon.

The interviews last the longest I and my colleagues have ever experienced, sometimes four hours.

If this was not enough, we are then told that a decision will be made the next morning.

The Home Office kindly informs us that we have until 9am to lodge any further representations before the decision, expecting us to work all night to provide a correct service.

The decision, always negative, is then served and two working days are allowed to lodge an appeal and a further two days are allowed as a hearing date is usually set.

A determination of the appeal is sent out the next day and voila, case finished.

A process that should take months is wrapped up in about seven working days.

To expect solicitors to provide a service to their clients and to do justice to an asylum claim, including obtaining medical reports or evidence from abroad, is preposterous.

Furthermore, cases are only rarely taken out of the fast-track.

This is the only area of law where a whole process, equivalent to a trial process, is completed in seven days.

To expect this scheme to work, and for solicitors to agree to it, is wishful thinking on the part of the Home Office.

Harjap Bhangal, Charles Simmons Solicitors, Ilford, Essex