Fault on UK Border Force machines sees queues forming at major airports, with international arrivals still waiting hours later

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Airline passengers faced disruption on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning as computer problems caused extended queues at immigration desks. Lengthy lines started forming at airport terminals across the country after a fault on UK Border Force computers earlier in the afternoon.

Extra staff were drafted in to try and reduce the queues. A government spokesman said: "We are currently experiencing temporary IT problems which may add to the time taken to conduct passport checks.

"We are working to rectify this issue and are providing extra staff to get passengers through the controls as quickly as possible. Our priority remains security of the border.

"We apologise for any additional time this adds to passengers' journeys."

Passengers across the country reported problems at passport control desks, mostly when trying to enter the country. The problem had a particular impact on non-EU passengers.

A Heathrow spokesman said: "There are some longer queues than normal in the terminals but we have spoken to border force and they are putting on extra staff.

"Obviously we want to sort the issue out but not risk the integrity of the border controls."

A Birmingham airport spokesman said: "We are aware of the glitch and the impact it is having at the moment.

"It appears to be getting progressively worse but we are hoping it will be sorted out soon."

A Gatwick spokesman added: "We are experiencing similar problems to the rest of the airports and we are working to get people through.

"People should be able to get off the plane, it is those coming through the immigration process which it is frustrating."

Chris Hyland, a 32-year-old company director from Islington in north London, said international passengers at Gatwick were told to expect a wait of up to four hours.

"We landed from Geneva at 5.20pm but it took until 6.40pm for us to get through passport control.

"It's an absolute nightmare. We've been told there is an IT failure but that's it.

"You would have thought there would be a back-up plan."

Hyland said non-EU passengers were preparing for a long wait to officially enter the country. "It is very frustrating. Nobody is really saying anything.

"The international queue is pretty huge so people have already started sitting down because they know they will be there for a long, long time."

Manchester airport said some passengers had experienced delays.