On Saturday, May 27, a computer outage affected the automated passport control system and created major delays for passengers arriving at airports in the United Kingdom, particularly in London, officials were informed.
On social media, many travelers complained of having to wait for hours to get through immigration controls over the long weekend.
London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports allow automatic passage through checks, citing a national issue affecting British border police’s “e-gates”.
“Our teams are working closely with Border Police to quickly resolve the issue,” Heathrow Airport Authority posted on its website, adding more staff were deployed to manage queues and assist passengers.
The UK has 270 electronic gates at 15 facilities, which are available to passengers aged 12 and over, who are British, EU citizens or from other countries (including Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan or the US).
“We are aware that we have a national issue affecting arrivals to the UK,” a UK Home Office spokesman said, adding that “they are working with airlines and airlines to resolve this issue as soon as possible to minimize passenger disruption.”
Long queues were reported this morning to cross the English Channel through the port of Dover (southeast England) due to a computer problem at passport control at the French border, which has already been resolved according to the Twitter system.
According to the same publication, the problem “resolved”, with mid-day waiting times between 30 and 45 minutes, compared to 90 minutes in the morning.
The disruptions come after as many as 175 flights were canceled between Thursday and Friday, according to British agency PA.
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