Heathrow passengers stuck in two-hour queues as e-gates fail again
‘Such a disappointing way to greet returning nationals and valuable guests from all around the world,’ said one passenger
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Travellers at Heathrow Airport have once again found themselves stuck in hours-long queues after the third failure of its e-gates system in four months.
“No e-gates working. Lovely end to our first family holiday…” tweeted Jonathan Rudling, sharing a photo of snaking queues at passport control in Terminal 5.
One passenger caught up in the queues was Clive Wratten, chief executive of the Business Travel Association.
He tweeted: “Saddens me to say this as past experiences good but arrival Heathrow Airport this morning to find not a single e-gate working in T5 and yes, you guessed, mega queues.
“Such a disappointing way to greet returning nationals and valuable guests from all around the world.”
Wratten showed a photo of a trolley of water being brought out to refresh passengers, adding: “You know you are in for a horrible experience entering Britain when the water trolley turns up.”
He then addressed the transport secretary and minister for aviation, Grant Shapps and Robert Courts, saying “We have all worked hard to get the travel industry moving. Why are we trashing the good work by treating passengers terribly?”
The software failure affected a number of UK ports, according to the Home Office.
The last e-gates failure occurred in early October, when customers reported long queues and expected waits of up to four or five hours.
Prior to that, passengers reported incidents of overly long queues at the end of September and over the busy August Bank Holiday.
Border Force, controlled by the Home Office, is responsible for queue management at border points such as airports.
“We are aware of a nationwide issue impacting the e-gates, which are staffed and operated by Border Force,” said a Heathrow Airport spokesperson.
“This issue is impacting a number of ports of entry and is not Heathrow specific. Our teams are working closely with Border Force to resolve the problem and we apologise for any impact on passenger journeys.”
“We are aware of a technical issue affecting e-gates at a number of ports,” said a Border Force spokesperson.
“We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments