The British Haj consular team has come out with a handbook for pilgrims detailing dos and don’ts.

The British Embassy in Riyadh welcomed their pilgrims traveling to the Kingdom to perform Haj this year with the British Haj consular team ready to assist the guests of God.

“The Foreign and Commonwealth Office know how deeply important the Haj is to all those who attend it and has been providing assistance to the British nationals performing the Haj for the past 16 years. The British Embassy welcomes the pilgrims traveling to Saudi Arabia to perform the Haj this year as well,” the embassy said in a statement on Saturday.

An embassy official said that this year the Haj consular team will be based at the Hilton hotel in Makkah and the British citizens performing Haj can visit the team’s office at the hotel for assistance from Sept. 28 to Oct 12.

The official expressed his hope that “it will be a trouble-free Haj.”

He added that in case of any untoward incident, the British citizens can rest assured that help is at hand with the Haj consular team offering all assistance.

He said the British Haj team can be contacted around the clock on the emergency no. 00966 501 00 4268.

The embassy has also provided another helpline number at the Hilton and British nationals seeking assistance from the consular Haj team can dial 00966 125 34 0000 for help.

The assistance team will provide the necessary support information such as money transfers, local contact details of hospitals, contact with relatives back home in case of emergency and emergency travel documents. The British embassy receives regular requests for help from pilgrims including disputes and dissatisfaction with tour operators.

The embassy has also asked British citizens to be cautious about their health, giving tips on health guidelines by WHO and the Ministry of Health.

Approximately 25,000 UK nationals travel for Haj annually, one of the world’s foremost events with around 2 million people participating globally.

Notably, Saudi authorities have acquired excellent crowd management skills in dealing with such large numbers of people.

It has become customary for countries to send a Haj delegation to discharge their duties to their nationals during the Haj and the British Haj delegation intends to do the same becoming the first western non-Muslim country to do so, the embassy statement said.

 
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