Passport e-gates issues at UK airports including Heathrow and Gatwick resolved

The Home Office said on Saturday evening that all e-gates were now operating as normal.
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Passport e-gates at all airports across the country, including Heathrow and Gatwick airport are back up and running again following a system failure.

The e-gates at the likes of Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick airport began experiencing problems on Friday night causing passengers to be stuck in long queues.

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All airports across the country using the technology were affected.

What happened?

The disruption, which began on Friday night, had been due to an IT issue.

The e-gate system speeds up passport control by allowing some passengers to scan their own passports. It uses facial recognition to verify identity and captures the traveller’s image.

Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check at HeathrowTravellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check at Heathrow
Travellers wait in a long queue to pass through the security check at Heathrow

People flying into the UK had to have their passports checked manually, with larger airports with e-gates most affected.

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The issue with the e-gates continued into Saturday morning (May 27), with people sharing photos on social media of long queues.

One person said: “Returning from Dubai overnight to this mother of queues. Apparently national outage in border control machines so manual passport checks.

"My plane landed at 6am, there is still a sea of people in front of me, passport checks are being done manually."

Another wrote: “Long queues at T5 Heathrow arrivals - this is for passport control!! Apparently due to E gates not working.”

When was it resolved?

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The Home Office said on Saturday evening that all e-gates were now operating as normal.

In a statement Heathrow airport said: “The e-gates at Heathrow are now back up and running. Our teams remain on hand, closely monitoring the situation with Border Force and helping to get passengers on their way as quickly as possible.”

Stansted airport added: “The UK Border Force e-gates at London Stansted Airport have been brought back into use following the issues experienced over the past 24 hours.

“Arriving passengers may still face some delays during the process of the e-gates being returned to service.

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“We apologise for any inconvenience caused during the period e-gates were out of use.”

On Thursday and Friday, British Airways was also hit by IT issues, affecting more than 20,000 passengers at Heathrow.