Stansted Airport chaos as ‘three passengers faint’ as ‘e-gates down’ | UK | News | EUROtoday

Passengers reportedly fainted and luggage started to pile up as points with e-gates prompted chaos at airports throughout the nation.

Issues with Border Force e-gates had been first reported on Tuesday night, with issues at London Stansted, Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Manchester.

The Home Office, which has oversight of Border Force, stated it was working with the company to try to resolve points “as soon as possible” and apologised to passengers affected.

Passengers at airports nonetheless have complained of enormous queues, a scarcity of water, and even folks passing out as they wait to get via passport management.

Writing on social media, one passenger at Standsted stated: “E-gates have stopped working at several UK airports. Here at Stanstead I’ve seen three people fainting.

“It’s too sizzling, too crowded and no water is being offered. We’ve been right here for over 2 hours on prime of the earlier hour hundreds of us spent caught on our airplanes.”

A second said: “People passing out at Stansted passport queue.”

A third passenger said: “System failure at Stansted airport. No plan in place and only a mass of individuals ready.”

While a fourth added: “No plan for youths, folks with disabilities, aged. Need for bathroom, water ect. beginning to be apparent. People getting stressed.”

One person simply described the scenes inside the airport as “carnage”.

Others reported their planes had landed at the airport only for them to be told to remain on the aircraft.

Writing on social media, a spokesman for Stansted said: “UK Border Force is experiencing nationwide points affecting eGates at quite a lot of airports together with London Stansted.

“Our teams are supporting Border Force staff to minimise the disruption to passengers while they fix the problem.

“We apologise for any inconvenience prompted throughout this time and thanks on your persistence and understanding.”

Express Online has approached London Standsted for further comment.

Elsewhere Heathrow Airport reported the gates were functional shortly after 1am.

The e-gates are said to be fully automated and use facial recognition to let people through, meaning they can enter the country without talking to a Border Force official.

There are more than 270 gates in place at 15 air and rail ports across the UK. The Government says they are designed to “allow faster journey into the UK”.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are conscious of a technical challenge affecting e-gates throughout the nation.

“We are working closely with Border Force and affected airports to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused.”