Immigration control at airports

[kenc]

I am British and my wife is Indonesian with a UK Residence Card and settled status. She travels on her Indonesian Passport. The point of the message is one of clarification.
We have travelled in and out of UK through many of the UK airports.
Usually on arrival at UK immigration we use the UK channel as we have been directed to on more than one occasion. Last night on arrival at Bristol Airport we were asked if we were travelling together and were directed to the UK channel. At the point where we showed our documents to the immigration officer we were admonished for using the UK channel and waving my wifes Indonesian Passport we were told that we should use the non-UK channel even though she has a valid Residence Card. I questioned this fact having always used the UK channel but there is no arguing with an immigration officer.
As stated, we have traveled together for many years and never had her passport stamped on entry. In fact many years ago it was a case that there was no need for a landing card and the passport was not to be stamped. So there we are, passport scanned, Residence Card examined, passport with a blinking stamp in it and then she had to have her fingerprints scanned.
I would welcome any thoughts on that procedure particularly from Moderators. Personally I feel the immigration officer was out of order but was unable to argue the fact. Many years ago at LHR I was successful at preventing a passport stamp but last night no such luck.

[secret.simon]

Re the airport queue to join when entering the UK, to the best of my knowledge, it is a policy that can vary from airport to airport. See this thread and this post. It is perfectly possible that there may be different approaches to this question at different airports.

Re the stamping of passports, since Brexit and the Withdrawal Agreement, I believe that there is no requirement to *not* stamp the passports of people on settled status or indeed the equivalent in EEA member-states.

British citizens and their family members under the Withdrawal Agreement resident in EEA member-states may have their passports stamped.

EU law does not prevent border guards from stamping upon entry to and exit from the Schengen area of travel documents of United Kingdom nationals who are beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement who are in possession of a valid residence permit issued by a Schengen Member State. The same applies to their family members in the same situation.

Settled Status is a special form of ILR. And ILR holders do get their passports stamped. So it is not surprising that your wife's passport was stamped in.

Your wife is like any other migrant to the UK, albeit with some more protections mandated by the Withdrawal Agreement.

If it makes you feel any better, it is expected that from 2024, both the EU and the UK will be moving to completely digital stamping of passports (via the ETIAS system for the Schengen Zone and an as yet unannounced digital visa system for the UK). That would apply to all migrants/visitors in both places.

[kenc]

Thank you for that very informative reply.
Much appreciated.
Ken