Chaos has been reported at UK airports, including Gatwick, after the failure of electronic passport gates.
The fault happened last night (Friday, May 26) but is still having a major impact today.
With airports already expected to be busy at the start of a bank holiday weekend and school half-term, the issue is causing travel chaos.
The Home Office said it was ‘working hard’ to resolve the issue ‘as quickly as possible’ but could not give a timeframe.
A London Gatwick spokesperson told SussexWorld: “Some passengers may experience delays at immigration due to a nationwide issue with UK Border Force e-gates. Our staff are working with UK Border Force – who operate passport control including the e-gates – to provide assistance to passengers where necessary.”
London Gatwick has also been responding to angry passengers on Twitter but said the responsibility lies elsewhere.
Heathrow Airport also took to Twitter to update people on the situation.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware of a nationwide issue impacting the eGates, which are operated by Border Force. This issue is impacting a number of ports of entry and is not Heathrow specific.
“Our teams are working closely with Border Force to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we have additional colleagues on hand to manage queues and provide passenger welfare. We apologise for any impact this is having to passenger journeys.”
Lucy Morton, from the Immigration Services Union, warned that queues would build ‘very, very quickly’. It comes after BA cancelled flights on Friday, causing travel woes for people jetting off for the bank holiday.