THOUSANDS of passengers are facing chaos at all UK airports due to IT failure across the country.
Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester are among airports facing huge queues and long waiting times due to a “technical issue” at border control.
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Chaos at Heathrow Airport tonight
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Border control e-gates are down across the countryCredit: @dheerajcr
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Luton Airport was also affectedCredit: @jjjjj255
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Long queues reported at Gatwick AirportCredit: @pauluwagboe
Tens of thousands of travelers flying home after the holidays spent the evening stuck in packed queues at passport control.
Images show furious British citizens waiting to have their passports manually checked due to an IT error.
The Home Office said it was aware of the “technical issue” affecting the gate and was working closely with Border Force to resolve it “as soon as possible”.
Paul Curievici, from Haslemere, Surrey, landed at Gatwick Airport at around 7.30pm on a flight from Lyon and queued for almost an hour at passport control.
The 41-year-old said: “(I was) a bit resigned to what initially looked like another piece of British infrastructure going down, and (had) a lot of sympathy for the poor people who were frowning and trying not to look embarrassed.”
Mr Curievici said the e-gates at Gatwick had since reopened but that fast-track passengers were still being prioritized, which he found “quite annoying”.’
He continued: “There was an awkward moment – half of us were put in the ‘all passports’ line.
“When the system came back online they reopened almost all the UK/EU ports without opening any for us – I actually set it up with a member of staff and they finally opened one.”
Sam Morter, 32, who arrived at Heathrow from Sri Lanka, said it was “pandemonium” when he got to passport control at Terminal 3, where all the e-gates had blank screens.
He said: “There were a lot of Border Force officers running and messing around. Four or five went to work on sites and start processing UK passports by hand.
“But at the same time, hundreds of passengers started crowding into passport control, so all of a sudden it became chaotic and they couldn’t cope with the number of people coming in.
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“We got no information. There was no information about the Tannoys or from the staff.”
Ryanair customers have been warned about landing in the UK via their app.
The notice read: “Please note that ePassport gates are temporarily unavailable at all UK airports.
“You may experience extended waiting times at passport control at UK airports as a result of this disruption.”
The notice read: “Please note that ePassport gates are temporarily unavailable at all UK airports.
“You may experience extended waiting times at passport control at UK airports as a result of this disruption.”
A spokesman for Heathrow Airport told The Sun: “Border Force is currently dealing with a national issue affecting passengers crossing the border.
“Our teams are supporting the Border Force with their contingency plans to help resolve issues as quickly as possible and are available for the benefit of travellers.
“We apologize for any impact this has on passenger journeys.”
A Manchester Airport spokesman said: “We are aware of issues with UK Border Force systems across the country, which are affecting a significant number of airports.
“Our resilience team and customer service colleagues are supporting travelers while the UK Border Force and Home Office deal with the issue.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “eGates at UK airports came back online shortly after midnight.
“As soon as engineers discovered a problem with the wider system network at 19:44 last night, a large-scale emergency response was activated within 6 minutes.
“The security of the border was never compromised and there are no indications of malicious cyber activity.
“We apologize to passengers caught up in the disruption and thank our partners, including airlines, for their cooperation and support.”
The disruption comes after Border Force workers staged a four-day strike at Heathrow last week over a dispute over working conditions.
The union said the workers were protesting against plans to introduce new timetables which they claimed would see around 250 of them forced out of work at passport control.
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Source: newstars.edu.vn