Queue at Gatwick Airport, South Terminal arrivals
By Michael Race
Business reporter, BBC News
Border Force is “currently experiencing a nationwide issue” leading to disruption, several UK airports said.
Airports across the country, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester, all confirmed a Border Force problem was affecting passport control e-gates.
The airports said they were supporting Border Force staff to “minimise disruption” for passengers.
Pictures and videos are circulating on social media showing long queues.
Border Force, which operates the UK border at airports across the country, has been approached for comment.
E-gates are automated gates that use facial recognition to check a person’s identity and allow them to enter the country without talking to a Border Force officer.
There are more than 270 of them in place at 15 air and rail ports in the UK, according to the government’s website, which also says they are supposed to “enable quicker travel into the UK”.
Heathrow, the UK’s largest airport, apologised to passengers for the delays to journeys and added it was supporting Border Force “with their contingency plans”.
“Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers being processed through the Border,” an airport spokesperson said.
A Gatwick spokesperson added that their staff were working with UK Border Force – who operate passport control including the e-gates – “to provide assistance to passengers where necessary”.
Manchester Airport said its customer services colleagues were supporting passengers by handing out water to passengers delayed. It added any excess charges for people who are late to leave car parks as a result of the problems would also be waived.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are aware of a technical issue affecting e-Gates across the country.
“We are working closely with Border Force and affected airports to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused.”
