International airline passengers arriving at Heathrow Airport near London faced hours-long queues at immigration checkpoints on Tuesday night after Britain’s Border Force reported a nationwide computer glitch, officials said.
The country’s largest airport, Heathrow, said on social media at 9.15pm: “Border Force are currently experiencing a nationwide issue affecting travelers traveling through the border.”
Just before 2am on Wednesday, Heathrow Airport Announce that the problem has been solvedbut it’s unclear whether the same is true for other affected airports.
Manchester Airport, Gatwick Airport near London, Belfast International Airport Airports in Northern Ireland and several other airports reported being affected on Tuesday evening, but the total number of affected airports was not yet known.
Officials say the problem stems from Border Force’s “eGates,” immigration checkpoints that process travelers arriving across the border.
Officials at Gatwick and Manchester airports said on Tuesday there were no flight delays or cancellations related to the blackout, but said they were working with Border Force officials to assist passengers experiencing delays at entry.
It’s unclear when the outage began or what caused it. We emailed inquiries on Tuesday to the UK Home Office, which manages Border Force, but there was no immediate response.
image in Crowded, stalled lines appear on social media In front of a row of gates at Heathrow Airport, underneath a sign that says “UK Borders”.
