Travelers arriving at some of the UK’s busiest airports, including London Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, and Edinburgh, encountered extended delays and chaotic scenes on Tuesday due to a malfunction in the UK Border Force’s electronic gate system.
The disruption, described by Heathrow Airport as a “nationwide issue,” forced immigration officers across multiple airports to revert to manual processing of passports. The Home Office confirmed awareness of the technical difficulties affecting e-gates across the country and is actively working with Border Force and the affected airports to resolve the issue as swiftly as possible.
Social media was flooded with images and videos showing long queues at passport control gates, where frustrated passengers waited to be manually processed. Heathrow Airport has issued an apology for any inconvenience caused and reassured travelers that teams are supporting Border Force with contingency plans aimed at resolving the problem.
Passenger Sam Morter, 32, shared his experience of the disarray after returning from a holiday in Sri Lanka. “All the e-gates were totally blank and there was just a lot of chaotic scenes,” Morter stated. Despite the disruptions, Morter reported making it out of the airport in about 90 minutes.
A representative from Gatwick Airport highlighted the challenges faced by passengers, noting, “Some passengers may experience delays at immigration due to a nationwide issue with UK Border Force e-gates.” Similarly, Manchester Airport acknowledged the significant impact on their operations due to the system failure.
This incident marks another significant disruption within a year, following a previous crash of Britain’s automated border gates in May 2023 and a meltdown of the country’s air traffic system in August 2023 due to technical issues that affected the National Air Traffic Service.
As officials work to address the current glitch, the extent of disruption to flights remains unclear, though the impact is evident across several major airports. The situation continues to develop, and updates are expected as more information becomes available.