Heathrow criticises Border Force for ‘unacceptable’ queues
Heathrow Airport has criticised Border Force after passengers faced “unacceptable queuing times”.
Images on social media showed packed queues at the west London airport on Friday night, with travellers complaining of waits of several hours.
A Heathrow spokesman apologised for the delays, but blamed Border Force for not providing enough staff at immigration.
The Home Office, which has responsibility for Border Force, said the wait times were “unacceptable”.
It said Border Force was “rapidly reviewing its rosters and capacity and flexibly deploying our staff across the airport to improve waiting times”.
Travellers at Heathrow used social media to complain about lengthy queues with inadequate ventilation, while some claimed people had fainted while they were waiting.
One Twitter user said: “There are people collapsing in Terminal 5 Arrivals due to overcrowding and no ventilation. Some Covid secure measures…”
Another said: “Horrendous kettling at Heathrow Terminal 5 arrivals tonight. No Border Force. No ventilation. No fire exits. No explanation. Held there for over an hour. People fainting. Panicked skeleton Heathrow ground team not knowing what to do.”
On Saturday morning, Heathrow Airport tweeted that it was unable to say how long travellers would have to queue for immigration.
In a subsequent statement, the airport said it had “escalated” the issue with Border Force and expected it to provide a better service over the weekend.
A Heathrow spokesperson said: “We are very sorry that passengers faced unacceptable queuing times in immigration due to too few Border Force officers on duty.
“Border Force were aware of the extra demand from families and we are very disappointed that they did not provide sufficient resource.
“We have additional Heathrow colleagues to support in managing queues and to hand out passenger welfare including water, but we need every immigration desk to be staffed at peak times.
“We have escalated this with Border Force and expect them to provide a better service over the remainder of the weekend.”
The Home Office said it was the busiest weekend of the year for returning passengers, with particularly high numbers of families with children under the age of 12 who cannot use e-gates.
E-gates allow travellers with biometric passports to bypass manual inspections when they cross border control.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Throughout the pandemic we have been clear that queue times may be longer as we ensure all passengers are compliant with the health measures put in place to keep the UK public safe. However, the very long wait times we saw at Heathrow last night are unacceptable…
“Border Force is rapidly reviewing its rosters and capacity and flexibly deploying our staff across the airport to improve waiting times.”
The Home Office added that Border Force was working closely with Heathrow Airport and its airlines and was committed to ensuring passengers had “a safe and hassle-free journey”.
Agencies