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Chaos erupted at airports across the United Kingdom on Tuesday as several major hubs confirmed a nationwide border issue, causing extensive delays and frustration among travelers.
London's Stansted and Gatwick airports attributed the problem to e-gates at passport control, exacerbating queues and disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers.
Affected airports included London Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.
A spokesperson for Heathrow Airport stated, "Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers being processed through the border. Our teams are supporting Border Force with their contingency plans to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and are on hand to provide passenger welfare."
Affected airports included London Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Bristol, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen. Manchester Airport also confirmed the outage, while Bristol Airport cautioned passengers about longer wait times due to unavailable e-gates.
AGS Airports, which operates Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Southampton airports, confirmed they were impacted by the nationwide outage but assured that flights were currently unaffected. However, contingency plans were in place, with additional staff ready to assist passengers if needed.
London Gatwick acknowledged potential delays at immigration due to the e-gate issue and stated their collaboration with UK Border Force to aid passengers. Videos and reports surfaced on social media depicting long queues and frustrated travelers, with little communication on the duration of the delays.
Sky News correspondent Sadiya Chowdhury reported from Heathrow Airport, where passengers endured hours-long queues with minimal information on resolution time. Similar issues with e-gates occurred last year, leading to lengthy delays as human officers manually processed passports.
The disruption follows a recent strike by Border Force workers at Heathrow, protesting new roster plans that could result in job losses. The Home Office expressed awareness of the technical issue and pledged to work closely with Border Force and affected airports to resolve it swiftly.
The incident underscores ongoing challenges faced by UK airports and highlights the need for robust contingency measures to mitigate disruptions in air travel.
Long queues at Heathrow airport where passengers are being held at arrivals for a system failure. Been here already 1hour and the queue is only getting bigger. No communication given to anyone on what is the timeframe to sort this out. #welcomeback #heathrow #london #england pic.twitter.com/1BR71tetJh
— A N D Y (@A_N_D_Y_3) May 7, 2024
[Source: Sky News]
