HEATHROW Airport passengers once again faced huge queues this morning after the eGates at the border broke down.
Travellers at Terminal 5 posted images of long queues on social media while others were being held on planes due to the congestion.
One wrote on Twitter: "Expected time of waiting for arriving passengers: 2-4 hours."
Another said: "#Heathrow is at it again… 3,000 person queue to even enter the arrivals hall at #terminal5."
Someone else asked: "Do e-gates at @HeathrowAirport ever actually work?
"Probably 1,000+ people queueing to get through passport control."
E-gates – managed by Border Force – allow travellers with biometric passports to pass through border control without a manual inspection.
There are currently approximately 270 e-gates across the UK which allow faster travel across the border.
Heathrow Airport wrote on Twitter: "We're aware of an issue impacting the e-gates, which are staffed and operated by Border Force.
"We apologise for the impact this is having on your journey. Our teams are working closely with Border Force to resolve this as quickly as possible."
The problems come just weeks after the e-gates stopped working across Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh, resulting in five hour queues and people even fainting.
However, travellers have seen huge queues at UK airports since the summer, as other problems included a lack of Border staff and more Covid travel checks being required.
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