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Airports across the UK have seen long queues and delays after the country’s border force system was hit by a nationwide glitch.
Pictures on social media showed enormous queues in front of the gates at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Edinburgh and Manchester as thousands waited for their passports to be checked.
A London Gatwick spokesperson 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.”
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A Heathrow spokesperson said: “Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers being processed through the border.
“Our teams are supporting Border Force with their contingency plans to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and are on hand to provide passenger welfare. We apologise for any impact this is having to passenger journeys.”
Manchester Airport’s statement read: “We are aware of an issue with UK Border Force’s systems across the country, affecting a significant number of airports.
“Our resilience team and customer services colleagues are supporting passengers while UK Border Force and the Home Office fix the issue.”
London Stansted and Edinburgh airports also said they had been affected by the issue, with UK Border Force working on fixing the glitch.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow…
