Over the weekend, UK airports experienced chaos and long waiting times due to glitches in the passport e-gate system. The issue came at a busy time, as a bank holiday on Monday overlapped with a school holiday. Travelers reported waiting for hours as those eligible to use the e-gates had to have their passports checked by immigration officials instead. One woman who landed at Heathrow early on Saturday morning tweeted about the “mother of queues” and the “sea of people” in front of her. Both of London’s main airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, were affected.
Heathrow airport has said it is “working closely with Border Force”, which operates the e-gates, to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and has deployed additional staff. The Home Office announced that Border Force has “robust plans in place” to send its officers to help reduce wait times. The UK government has over 270 e-gates at 15 air and rail ports, available to British nationals, EU citizens over the age of 12, and passport holders of several other countries, including Australia and Canada.
On Saturday evening, the Home Office confirmed that the problem was resolved and that all e-gates were operating normally. The delays followed the cancellation of dozens of flights through Heathrow airport by British Airways due to a knock-on technical issue. In addition, long queues formed at Dover, a major port for ferries to France in the southeast of England, on Saturday due to IT issues at French passport control. However, the Port of Dover reported that the technical issues had been resolved and that the average waiting time was down to 30-45 minutes, compared to 90 minutes earlier in the day.
The passport e-gate system is designed to expedite the immigration process by automatically checking the passports of eligible travelers. However, the glitches experienced over the weekend highlight the potential problems that can arise when relying on technology. The burstiness of travel, with large numbers of people arriving at airports around the same time, can exacerbate any issues with the system. The delays are particularly frustrating for travelers during a holiday period when they are looking forward to spending time with family and friends or enjoying a well-deserved break. The UK government will need to review the passport e-gate system and find ways to minimize the impact of any future glitches.
The recent passport e-gate system failure at UK airports caused chaos and long waiting times for travelers. The UK government must review the system and find ways to minimize the impact of any future glitches, especially during busy travel periods.
Leave a Reply