LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) – Britain’s automated border control gates are back to normal operation, the Home Office said on Saturday, after a nationwide issue caused major delays.
Pictures posted on social media earlier showed long queues of hundreds of people at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, with frustrated passengers complaining of having to wait hours in line.
“Following a technical fault with the border system which affected e-gate arrivals in the UK, we can confirm that all e-gates are now operating as normal,” Britain’s interior ministry told a post on Twitter.
“We thank the travelers affected for their patience and the staff for their work in resolving the issue.”
While many foreign visitors to Britain must see a border control officer on landing, others, including British, EU and US citizens, can use automated gates known as e-gates to be scanned their passports and enter the country.
The issue with the automated gates, which comes during a busy period for travel in Britain with a spring bank holiday on Monday and a half-term break for schools next week, means all passengers will have to process at manual checkpoints.
British airlines and airports have faced other disruptions in the past year including from separate strikes involving airport staff and Border Force workers, and from canceled flights caused by shortages in staff last summer.
Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar and Kanjyik Ghosh; Editing by Clelia Oziel and Jan Harvey
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