Half of Heathrow's passport control booths unused because of lack of perspex screens

Chaotic queues of up to six hours at Heathrow are being compounded by half the passport control booths being unused because of a lack of perspex screens, a union has claimed.

The lack of side screens mean half the 40 desks are unattended because border staff cannot work alongside each other, according to Lucy Moreton, professional officer for the ISU immigration and border officers.

The problem emerged amid growing complaints about the queues for arrivals at the airport that average between two and six hours.

Chris Garton, Heathrow’s chief solutions officer, told MPs on Wednesday that "the situation is becoming untenable" and the police had been forced to step in. One woman collapsed while waiting on Wednesday evening.

The problems stem from the Government’s demand that all passengers’ locator forms must be checked by Border Force officers

Every form has to be checked by hand by the officers. The e-gates cannot be used because the Government is yet to fully digitise the forms which travellers must fill in before heading to the UK.

Ms Moreton said each passenger took three to four minutes to process but just one arrival failing to fill out their form or with the wrong information could delay a queue 30 to 40 minutes – and a plane load would “lose it for the day”.

“The cause of the delays is because people are not complying. We are seeing a lot of people saying 'nobody told them' or 'it doesn't apply to me',” she added.

“The Government should put more pressure on airlines to make sure that all the documents are there and correct before people fly.

“Why are these people boarding without the carrier making sure they have the documentation they need? It would not solve it, but it would make the queues shorter.”

Heathrow said Thursday was the first it had heard about the problems with the perspex and would work to resolve it.

But it said the main issue was to digitize the locator form: “What the Government needs to do is integrate these checks into the e-gates technology that they have already got.”