Airport delays – live: Bank Holiday travel chaos as passport e-gates fail across UK
Issue likely to cause long delays at passport controls for bank holiday travelers flying into the country
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Passengers are facing travel chaos 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.
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.
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.
Failures with passport e-gate systems at UK airports cause lengthy delays
Failures with the passport e-gate system at UK airports have caused long delays for those arriving in the country as the bank holiday getaway gets under way.
Travellers have described on social media queues of several hours at a number of airports including Heathrow and Gatwick as arrivals need to have their passports checked by hand rather than the automated machines.
The problems came as millions are expected to take to the roads and public transport this weekend.
One traveller arriving at Heathrow posted on Twitter: “Just landed to scenes of utter chaos. 2 hour queues just to get to the real queue. Gates broken.”
Another passenger at Gatwick described the situation as an “utter joke”.
We’re ending our live coverage of the bank holiday travel problems but keep checking independent.co.uk for the latest updates.
Full story: Bank holiday travel chaos as electronic passport gates stop working at UK airports
Flyers faced travel chaos on Saturday after failures with the passport e-gate system at UK airports caused lengthy delays as the bank holiday getaway kicks off.
Disgruntled travellers took to social media to bemoan several hours waiting at airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick, as arrivals need to have their passports checked by hand rather than the automated machines.
The problems came as millions are expected to take to the roads and public transport this weekend, with some lengthy queues already impacting travellers at the Port of Dover.
One traveller arriving at Heathrow posted on Twitter: “Just landed to scenes of utter chaos. 2 hour queues just to get to the real queue. Gates broken.”
Another passenger at Gatwick described the situation as an “utter joke”.
Long delays at Gatwick Airport passport control after national outage of e-Passport gates
Hottest day of the year in the UK for those enjoying staycations
Saturday was the UK’s hottest day of the year, the Met Office has confirmed.
Temperatures reached as high as 24.3C in Bramham, West Yorkshire, the forecaster said.
The warm bank holiday is expected to continue into Sunday, although it is not predicted to be quite as warm.
Temperatures are expected to reach up to 23C in Plymouth.
Heading north it will be increasingly cooler, with larger spells of cloud than the day before.
Pictured: Queues at UK airports after failure at passport e-gate systems
How many cars will take to the roads over the May bank holiday weekend?
The RAC estimated that drivers across the UK will embark on 19.2 million leisure car trips between Friday and Monday making it the busiest late May bank holiday since 2019.
Transport data company Inrix warned that journeys on some stretches of the M25 will take up to three times longer than normal.
They include clockwise from Junction 23 for Hatfield to Junction 28 for Chelmsford, and anticlockwise towards the Dartford Crossing.
Long delays are also expected on the M5 in Somerset and the M6 in Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
Long delays at Gatwick Airport passport control after national outage of e-Passport gates
What have airports said about the lengthy delays?
A Gatwick Airport spokesperson said the problem started on Friday evening but queues had eased on Saturday morning.
He said: “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.”
Heathrow Airport posted on Twitter: “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.”
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