Massive queues at Gatwick Airport after electronic passport gates fail at all UK major airports
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Those flying at Gatwick Airport are having their passports checked manually with massive queues building as a result.
The fault happened last night (Friday, May 26) but is still having a major impact today.
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Hide AdWith airports already expected to be at their busiest, post-pandemic, at the start of a bank holiday weekend and school half-term, the issue is causing travel chaos.
The Home Office said it was ‘working hard’ to resolve the issue ‘as quickly as possible’ but could not give a timeframe.
A London Gatwick spokesperson told SussexWorld: "Some passengers may experience delays at immigration due to a nationwide issue with UK Border Force e-gates. Our staff are working with UK Border Force - who operate passport control including the e-gates – to provide assistance to passengers where necessary.”
One traveller, who was arriving into Gatwick airport took to social media to say: "Three Hour delay. Flown to Gatwick instead of Heathrow with no warning and now @Gatwick_Airport can’t process anything."
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Hide AdAnother person said: “Returning from Dubai overnight to this mother of queues. Apparently national outage in border control machines so manual passport checks.
"My plane landed at 6am, there is still a sea of people in front of me, passport checks are being done manually."
London Gatwick has also been responding to angry passengers on Twitter but said the responsibility lies elsewhere.
A spokesperson said: “We sympathise with your frustrations, Border Force are responsible for this area of the airport. You can share your feedback with them by using this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/border-force/about/complaints-procedure.”
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Hide AdHeathrow Airport also took to Twitter to update people on the situation.
A spokesperson said: "We are aware of a nationwide issue impacting the eGates, which are operated by Border Force. This issue is impacting a number of ports of entry and is not Heathrow specific.
"Our teams are working closely with Border Force to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we have additional colleagues on hand to manage queues and provide passenger welfare. We apologise for any impact this is having to passenger journeys.”