Travel chaos at UK airports – as London and Manchester confirm national border issue | UK News

Chaos was reported at airports across the UK – as several airports confirmed a national border issue.

Stansted and Gatwick Airports said the problem was related to electronic gates at passport control.

A Heathrow spokesperson said: “Border Force is currently experiencing a national issue which is affecting passengers crossing the border.

“Our teams are supporting Border Force with their contingency plans to help resolve the issue as quickly as possible and are on hand to support passenger wellbeing. We apologize for any impact this is having on passenger journeys.”

Manchester Airport has also confirmed that the UK Border System is down as part of a nationwide outage.

A London Gatwick spokesperson said: “Some passengers may experience delays at immigration due to a national issue with UK Border Force e-gates.

“Our team is working with UK Border Force – who operate passport control, including the e-gates – to provide assistance to passengers when needed.”

He said his teams are working to assist passengers at the airport.

A passenger at Gatwick Airport posted a video of the queues, saying on X that there were “lots of children and no water”.

A passenger at Heathrow Airport said he had been in the queue for an hour and it was “getting longer and longer”.

They added that “no information” was given about how long it might take to resolve the issue.

Stansted Airport said in a statement: “We are aware of an issue with UK Border Force systems across the country, affecting all UK airports.

“Our operational and customer service colleagues are supporting passengers whilst UK Border Force and the Home Office resolve the issue.”

Edinburgh Airport said: “Border Force is experiencing a nationwide technical disruption affecting UK airports.

“Although this is not a peak period for arrivals, some passengers may face longer than normal waits at the border as UKBF works to resolve the issue.” He added: “Thank you for your patience.”

The disruption comes after Border Force workers staged a four-day strike at Heathrow in a dispute over working conditions last week.

The union said workers were protesting plans to introduce new lists which they say will see around 250 of them forced out of their jobs at passport control.

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