Sunday May 28, 2023
LONDON - Travelers arriving in the United Kingdom faced long delays on Saturday after a technical problem closed electronic border gates at airports across the country for most of the day, forcing everyone to have their passports checked manually on what was expected to be one of the busiest travel weekends weekends of the year.
The Home Office, the government agency responsible for immigration and borders, said at 6 p.m. London time when all the electronic gates were working again. It did not provide any details about what caused the problem.
"Following a technical fault with the border system which affected e-Gate arrivals into the UK, we can confirm that all e-Gates are now operating normally," the Home Office said. "We thank the passengers who were affected for their patience and the staff for their work in resolving the issue."
Airport operators have previously appealed for patience and apologized for delays as frustrated travelers took to social media to post photos of long queues at airports including Manchester in the north of England and London's Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport. Travel is expected to be particularly busy over the next few days as the three-day weekend coincides with the start of a week-long holiday for most schools in Britain.
One of those affected was Marc Baret, a traveler from northern England. He told the BBC he was booked on a flight from Chicago to Manchester via Heathrow, but the last leg of the flight had been cancelled. He was trying to leave the airport to catch a train and ended up in a very long passport scrum.
"It was absolute chaos at passport control," he said. “People were really frustrated and a few individuals tried to jump the queue. The police had to intervene and one of the passengers passed out.
The problems, which began on Friday night, come as Britain's airports, airlines and ferry operators struggle to restore public goodwill after a series of glitches caused travel chaos last summer, when overseas travel surged following the coronavirus pandemic.
Electronic passport gates are automatic self-service barriers designed to speed up the processing of travel documents. Using facial recognition technology, the system verifies a passenger's identity against data stored in a chip in their passport.
There are now 270 such gates in the UK at 15 air and rail ports, according to the Home Office. They are open to anyone over the age of 12 who holds a passport from the United Kingdom, any member country of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States of America. .
According to the Home Office, around 86 per cent of people entering the UK each year qualify for electronic gates.
Ivan Coninx, who flew from Belgium to London on Saturday, posted a picture on Twitter of passengers packed shoulder to shoulder as they waited for passport control. Coninx wrote on Twitter that "the current situation is quite a mess".
He said the inspection takes 90 minutes, which usually takes 10 to 15 minutes. But at least the staff at Heathrow were handing out water.
"It was a little chaotic," Coninx told The Associated Press.
Author: Danica Kirka
