Yahoo News Border Force gates back online after outage causes 'crazy' queues at Manchester Airport
An issue with the Border Force eGates at Manchester Airport and other major airports across the UK has been resolved, the Home Office has confirmed.
The eGates, which are automated self-service barriers which use data stored in a chip in biometric passports, crashed at major airports across the UK, including in Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow on Tuesday (May 7). The issue caused long delays at the border, with some passengers complaining of 80-minute waits in Manchester, with others claiming they were sat on planes for around 30 minutes after landing due to the size of the 'crazy' queues.
A statement issued by Manchester Airport on Tuesday said: "UK Border Force is experiencing nationwide issues affecting eGates at a number of airports, including Manchester. Our teams are supporting UK Border Force staff to minimise disruption to passengers while they fix the problem.
"We apologise for any inconvenience caused during this time and thank you for your patience and understanding."
In an update issued early on Wednesday, a Home Office spokesperson confirmed the gates were back working shortly after midnight. "eGates at UK airports came back online shortly after midnight", the spokesperson said.
"As soon as engineers detected a wider system network issue at 7.44pm last night, a large scale contingency response was activated within six minutes. At no point was border security compromised, and there is no indication of malicious cyber activity."
The Home Office spokesperson also extended apologies to 'travellers caught up in disruption' and thanked 'partners, including airlines for their co-operation and support' during the outage. Images and footage shared on social media on Tuesday evening appeared to show long queues forming at the e-gates across the airports.
One woman, who had landed at Manchester, told the Manchester Evening News: "We have just been allowed of the plane to immigration and it's crazy. Stayed on the plane for about 30 minutes as immigration refused to accept us - now we are in a massive queue."
Another passenger said he was queueing up for around 80 minutes. "We are clear and through now," he said. "Was there about 1 hour 20 minutes. We were handed bottled water as it was red hot with no air conditioning"
Another person posted on X, formerly Twitter: "System down at Manchester Airport, over 1,000 people packed in the hall at immigration, border force staff handing out bottles of water."
The disruption came after Border Force workers staged a four-day strike at Heathrow in a dispute over working conditions last week. The union said the workers were protesting against plans to introduce new rosters they claim will see around 250 of them forced out of their jobs at passport control.
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