Bank Holiday chaos as passport gate glitch sparks airport delays – live updates

Passengers are facing long delays as electronic passport gates have gone down across UK airports.

The issue is likely to cause long delays at passport controls for bank holiday travelers flying into the country as all airports that use the gates are affected.

The Home Office has confirmed the news after the system went down on Friday night – but did not say how long the fault would last.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the UK.

“We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and are liaising with port operators and airlines to minimise disruption for travellers.”

This comes after thousands of people faced having their bank holiday plans plunged into chaos, as British Airways was forced to cancel scores of flights on Thursday and Friday following an IT failure.

A passenger has told of “long delays at passport control” at Gatwick Airport upon his arrival there on Saturday morning.

Alongside a picture of the queues posted on social media, Luke Herr said he had been in Germany for a business trip where there had been a comparatively “slick operation”.

Describing the chaos, he said, “Welcome to the UK.”

The travel chaos on Saturday comes after British Airways cancelled dozens of flights following an IT failure on Thursday, what was supposed to be the busiest day for aviation since 2019.

The Independent calculated that at least 156 flights, mainly domestic and European, had been cancelled on Thursday and Friday as BA struggled to operate without essential systems.

In addition, 14 flights were delayed by as much as 12-16 hours.

With many planes fully booked at the start of the bank holiday weekend, the number of passengers affected is likely to top 25,000 – with many more seriously delayed and/or encountering missed connections.

Heathrow Airport has said it has “additional colleagues on hand to manage queues and provide passenger welfare”.

Writing on social media, it tweeted: “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.”

Edinburgh Airport is “working with UK Border Force colleagues to put contingencies in place while they work to rectify the issue”, it has said.

The airport tweeted: “Arriving passengers should be aware of on ongoing issue with e-gates across UK airports.

“At Edinburgh we are working with UK Border Force colleagues to put contingencies in place while they work to rectify the issue.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

The UK government said it is working to fix the technical problem that caused electronic border gates at airports around the country to stop working late on Friday, leading to hourslong waits for travelers entering the country at the start of a busy holiday weekend.

The Home Office, which is responsible for border control, said it was working to correct the problem.

“We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the U.K.” the Home Office said. “We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and are liaising with port operators and airlines to minimize disruption for travelers.”

Travelers posted photos of long lines at airports around the country as all incoming passengers were forced to use manned passport desks, instead of the automatic gates equipped with electronic passport scanners.

One passenger has described scenes at Edinburgh Airport as a “shambles”, reporting a queue of over 300 people at passport control on Friday night.

Another spoke of “total chaos” at Gatwick Airport’s passport control, with “queues of over an hour” caused by the downing of the electronic passport gates.

Simon Calder, travel correspondent at The Independent, warned that the failure could spread wider disruption beyond the inconvenience to arriving passengers.

“The whole UK Border Force business model – including staffing this weekend – is based on the premise that a large majority of arriving passengers are able to use the eGates. As well as British citizens, EU nationals, Americans, Australians, Japanese and other nationalities can go through them.

“The simple business of checking that a passport is valid, and that it belongs to the traveller presenting themselves, is a transaction that is normally easily and efficiently achieved by eGate technology. With this routine burden removed, UK Border Force officers can spend time on ‘cases of interest’ arriving from abroad.

“But if every arrival has to be checked manually, the processing time increases massively – leading to the very long queues we are seeing.

“Once the flow of arrivals becomes unmanageable in the immigration hall, passengers may need to be kept aboard aircraft – meaning that delays can build up for departing travellers who are unable to board their planes.

“The problem will also affect British border posts in France – at Calais, Dunkirk and the Eurostar terminal at Paris Gare du Nord.”

We’re pausing our live coverage of the bank holiday getaway but keep checking independent.co.uk for the latest updates.