‘Never seen anything like it’: Celebrity chef James Martin is caught in the Heathrow scrum

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Celebrity chef James Martin has claimed he has ‘never seen anything like it’ after he became caught up in the queueing madness at London Heathrow airport yesterday.

The 49-year-old took to Twitter yesterday evening to express his shock at the scenes he had witnessed in the airport as people waited in tightly-packed areas upon arrival.

The chef said in his tweet: ‘Wow never seen anything like Heathrow right now for passport control … queues of 1000s probs 10,000 waiting for hours all stood together… utter madness .’ 

It comes after the Home Office finally admitted that massive queues at London Heathrow where people, including a pregnant woman, have fainted are ‘unacceptable’ after airport bosses accused Border Force of causing chaos at Terminal 5 all this week. 

A furious blame-game broke out yesterday morning after images posted to Twitter overnight showed thousands of British arrivals forced to cram into small hallways with no social distancing measures in place and queueing for several hours to pass immigration.

One holidaymaker, Sonny Singh, told Sky News he saw a pregnant woman pass out while in the queue on Friday night. ‘There were thousands of families queuing and just two people in booths up front checking documents,’ he claimed. ‘Children were screaming and crying. 

‘The queue moved about five feet in the space of about 45 minutes. Then, when the pregnant woman fainted, it finally got through to someone somewhere – the kids were then put on the side to sit while the adults waited in the queue and it began moving faster.’

One photo even appears to show a male traveller lying on the floor in the London airport after apparently passing out while queueing for passport control, amid claims that stressed holidaymakers had no access to ventilation or toilets, and no shuttles were available.

An incensed passenger queueing for hours to get to immigration at Heathrow tweeted last night: ‘Kids crying and screaming and fully grown [men] fainting whilst two people at the booth serving thousands of people queuing up to the runway.’ 

Astonishingly, Heathrow has twice admitted that they have no idea how long it will take passengers to pass through immigration. The border chaos has been compounded by the fact that families with children aged under 12 can’t use the e-gates. 

In a statement, a Heathrow spokeswoman blamed ‘unacceptable queueing times in immigration’ on ‘too few Border Force officers on duty’. She claimed the Home Office ‘were aware of the extra demand’ and said they are ‘disappointed’ they didn’t 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 spokeswoman added. 

A Home Office spokesman admitted yesterday: ‘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. This is 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.

‘Border Force is rapidly reviewing its rosters and capacity and flexibly deploying our staff across the airport to improve waiting times. We are working very closely with Heathrow Airport and its airlines and we are all committed to making sure all passengers can have a safe and hassle-free journey.’  

Tory MPs have joined a growing backlash against the border chaos overseen by Home Secretary Priti Patel and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, while industry experts warn the huge queues are damaging Britain’s reputation as a hub for global travel. 

As Heathrow was engulfed in border chaos:

Ryanair’s boss branded the traffic light system ‘monstrously stupid’ and called for it to be scrapped so the UK can ‘return to normality’;British holidaymakers will no longer have to quarantine after jetting to mainland Portugal, despite the country remaining on the amber list;  Plans to vaccinate millions of schoolchildren are expected to be given the go-ahead despite government advisers yesterday refusing to back a mass rollout;Britain’s Covid outbreak continued to grow as daily infections and hospitalisations both rose week-on-week and deaths jumped by a fifth;Boris Johnson is planning to renew Covid laws for another six months to cover a possible winter surge.

Henry Smith, Tory chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation, told MailOnline: ‘More resources need to be put into managing the chaos at the border at Heathrow, otherwise it could lead to increased risk of Covid transmission, a surge in cases and another crisis this winter.

‘These scenes are discouraging people from going abroad and are making safe international travel even harder. With fewer people willing to get on planes abroad or to come into the UK, I fear that the result of this will be further job losses in the aviation and hospitality sectors already devastated by what has already been two very difficult years.’

Paul Charles, CEO of the respected PC Agency, told MailOnline that Border Force should have known this weekend is one of the busiest for travel back into Britain after the summer period and August bank holiday week, and urged Miss Patel to ‘get a grip’.

He accused the Government of ‘incompetence’ and ‘making life so hard for those airlines who have experienced months of shutdown and are now trying to make travel as Covid-safe and seamless as possible for holidaymakers who frankly just want a break’. 

Dr Steven Freudmann, former President of ABTA, said the images of chaos at Britain’s biggest airport make the country look like a ‘laughing stock’ and will ‘put people off from visiting’. He also called the mayhem a ‘disgrace’ and ‘totally predictable’. 

Responding to criticism, the airport tweeted on Friday: ‘Whilst we do not have exact figures out how long queues can take our teams in the terminals are on hand to support where possible and we are working with Border Force to reduce delays as soon as possible.’ 

It then said yesterday morning: ‘We are unable to provide information in regards to immigration queue times on behalf of UK Border Force, who operate and manage our immigration halls’. 

Speaking to MailOnline, Lucy Moreton, spokeswoman for the Immigration Services Union, said: ‘Border Force, and in particular large airports like London Heathrow, have suffered from chronic under funding for some years. Although Border Force as whole has recruited almost 1,000 new officers in the last two years these have been paid for with EU exit money and directed solely to inland and international trade. 

‘London Heathrow has had no inbound recruitment for many years but staff loss is still running between 10 and 20 per cent. Resources are understandably also stretched by the demands of small boats migration, Afghan re-settlement etc. This, as well as normal staff sickness, leave demands and staff positive for Covid all contribute to reduced staff on a day by day basis.’

One traveller told MailOnline on Friday night: ‘I am currently at Heathrow airport and the queues have been three to five hours long for immigration. I landed in Terminal 5 and the transit train wasn’t working so we had to walk in a tunnel for about 20 minutes with no ventilation during Covid. We have been in the queue for two to three hours but some will have to wait five hours, with families and babies stuck in the queue.’ 

Another said: ‘The shuttle trains had been suspended so you had to walk all the way underground instead. My husband and I were very close to the man who fainted and police had to manage the queues for the lifts. Without the police people could have been crushed or injured. No fire exits. No toilets. This could so very easily have turned out to be an even more major incident. 

‘I get it that the source of the problem lay with Border Force but even so the airport didn’t make any announcements to their passengers and other staff gave out no information which just added to the panic for passengers caught in the middle. I was shocked by the lack of any real attempts from any staff to help passengers or even just to remind people to distance or to wear masks over mouth and nose to improve safety just a little. I even observed some staff who were not wearing their own masks properly – either just standing looking helpless or chatting together seemingly immune to what was going on around them. 

‘The worst thing is that the way that the queues were organised meant that you couldn’t distance and had people walking in the opposite direction facing you all the time at either side. Everyone coming in from different flights all together in one very small enclosed unventilated space. If you wanted to design a super-spreader event this would be the way to do it. 

‘Then at the end of it all, no one even checked any of our Covid paperwork. We simply went through the e-passport gates. We were queuing for more than two hours. The baggage hall was also just a mess with baggage piling up so you had to walk about hunting for your cases which had been removed from the conveyors. It felt as though no one cared.’

Taking to Twitter, one traveller said: ‘@UKBorder why aren’t the passport check desks fully staffed at Heathrow airport today? @HeathrowAirport why aren’t you ensuring the well-being of passengers arriving by providing drinking water for those in the nearly 2 hour long queue?’ 

Another tweeted: ‘@pritipatel @grantshapps Why were there long queues on the 3 Sep 21 at Heathrow? We landed at 21:35 and left the airport after midnight due to long queues at immigration. Why were families expected to queue for over 2 hours when single passengers could use the e-gates?’

A third person posted: ‘Friends arriving at @HeathrowAirport this week telling me the situation is beyond a joke. Queues beyond 2 hours at passport control & people handing out water & snacks. Why can’t these people work at immigration? What’s going on? #Heathrow I’m not buying covid as an excuse’.

Tweeting overnight, one holidaymaker said: ‘Currently mingling with 1000s of others, 1 hour in, plenty to go. Why bother with green, Amber, red tiers when your [sic] all put together on arrival?’

Another raged: ‘Border Force, embarrassing scenes at LHR T5 this evening with massive snaking queues for families. Incompetent border force staff refused to redeploy staff when asked to by T5 staff #heathrow @pritipatel’.

‘I came prepared Heathrow. Shame you wasn’t ready for your customers. Passport control was a mess, only a few of your machines working. The staff manning them didn’t know what was going on. Oh, and I arrived just under 2 hours ago and still no updates from your team,’ another tweeted. 

Mr Charles told MailOnline: ‘First of all, this weekend is one of the busiest weekends for travel into the UK after that long summer break and the week following the August bank holiday. Border Force either know that or they don’t. They should have been planning for an increase in passengers coming through Heathrow, and it’s ridiculous that this has been allowed to happen yet again.

‘What kind of message does this send to the world about Britain? How does it look to other countries who are looking at those pictures and videos of big queues at Heathrow? Well I’ll tell you. It sends the message that Britain is not fit for purpose.

‘There’s certainly incompetence and mismanagement. But it does seem that the Government are trying to make international travel as difficult as possible for British holidaymakers wanting to get away. I don’t think they don’t want people to leave this country because they’re obsessing over Covid numbers and keeping them down at whatever cost.

‘This is not a government famous for trying to reopen global travel. It has put the brakes on overseas travel throughout this pandemic, despite the industry clamouring for a proper reopening. Add the traffic light system and the testing regime to chaos at Heathrow, and it has the effect of putting people off from flying anywhere. And it’s working.

‘It does seem to me that they’re deliberately sowing complexity around global travel.’   

Images taken on Friday showed snaking lines of frustrated passengers waiting to enter the UK, in scenes that are now wearily familiar due to Border Force failing to tackle an issue that has been going on all summer.  One furious traveller told MailOnline: ‘The queues have been three to five hours long for immigration.

‘I landed in Terminal 5 and the transit train wasn’t working so we had to walk in a tunnel for about 20 minutes with no ventilation. We’ve been in a queue for two to three hours already, but some have been told the wait is up to five hours – with families and babies stuck in the queue.’

Another person said: ‘There are massive queues at Terminal 5 again.

‘Really young children and old people had to walk the full walkway as shuttle trains are out of service, and there are no toilets between the gates and passport control. No water. No social distancing. Supposedly the UK is a first world country, but not by this measure. 

‘Absolute incompetence from UK border force and Heathrow airport. Run an airport? They don’t have enough competence and intelligence to run a bath.’ 

On Friday, ex-Tory leader Iain Duncan-Smith called the scenes at arrivals ‘madness’, telling MailOnline: ‘We are going to achieve the worst of all worlds by having people close together who may have Covid. The whole thing is chaotic and we still haven’t fully opened up yet. We don’t seem to have a plan for how we are going to manage that.

‘If it carries on like this Heathrow will cease to be a hub airport and Britain will be left in the backwash as an irrelevant country. Having already jabbed such a large percentage of the population we have to get on with things.’ 

James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire, asked: ‘What the hell is going on? This is totally unacceptable and I find it deeply embarrassing that the United Kingdom in the 21st century cannot get people into Britain faster than this.’   

The latest bout of queueing chaos began on Sunday and has been repeated every day this week. But the Home Office – which has repeatedly pinned the problem on understaffing – has maintained an unapologetic stance despite widespread fury from the public and senior travel industry figures.  

One passenger tweeted: ‘Chaos at Heathrow airport Terminal 4. Four hrs waiting to go through immigration. Families with children, pregnant ladies & old folks everyone had to wait. Is that human?’ 

A second wrote: ‘Passport control at Terminal 5: Empty e-gates. Yet families with kids under 12 have to queue for 2 hours. Two desks open to UK citizens, kids and babies are screaming #disgrace.’ 

The Home Office disputed this figure, with a spokesman citing Border Force statistics that the lengthiest queue at Terminal 5 yesterday was 1 hour 15 mins.

Under-12 can’t use e-gates due to limitations with the facial recognition technology, meaning families with young children have to use manned desks. 

Mr Duncan-Smith urged the government to come up with a new solution to the chaos, saying Border Force could remove the need to spend time processing Covid paperwork by introducing sniffer dogs trained to detect Covid. 

‘The NHS has already done phase one of a trial for medical detection dogs, which has shown they are already almost at the level of a PCR test when it comes to Covid,’ he said. 

‘That would indicate who has it immediately, at which point they can be taken out of the queue and sent for a full PCR. But the NHS, having done the first phase of the trial, has now refused point blank to do the second phase at airports. We are seeing these queues now but this trial has been completed months ago.

‘They could easily by now have dogs deployed at airports very accurately detecting Covid but the NHS has failed to complete the trial.’ 

North Wiltshire MP James Gray called for Border Force officials to be hauled in front of a select committee. He told MailOnline: ‘People coming into the country who aren’t British must have had the most appalling experience. Someone needs to get a grip of this. 

‘I’d like to know how many people Border Force has altogether, how many are self-isolating and how many people are on the rota at peak times? People know when flights are coming in so it can’t be acceptable that there are only two guards on duty.

‘We need to get Border Force in front of the select committee and the government to do a review of Border Force per se. And the ridiculous carry on with e-gates is farcical. E-gates have been around now for years. Why haven’t we sorted it?’  

On Wednesday, journalist Guy Faulconbridge compared the scenes that met him after touching down in the UK to the dying days of the Soviet Union. 

He tweeted a picture taken two hours into the queuing process, with hundreds of people still in front of him in the line.

On Tuesday, one traveller wrote on Twitter that a queue for families with children had lasted three hours. Another described the wait for families as ‘shameful’, adding that the UK ‘must be the only country which treats families worse than adults’.

On Monday a passenger said the immigration process in Terminal 2 was ‘incompetent, ridiculous’, adding that he was forced to wait for more than five hours with ‘no water, no bathroom’. 

Clive Wratten CEO of the Business Travel Association (BTA), described the scenes as ‘very worrying’. He said: ‘As the world continues to open up safely, it is essential that there is enough staff and support at all points of a journey. 

‘The travel experience needs to be as frictionless and consistent as possible to give all travellers the confidence they need to return in large numbers.’ 

Jacqueline Dobson, President of Barrhead Travel, which describes itself as the UK’s leading independent British travel agents, said: ‘From a visitor perspective, arriving into Heathrow is the first impression many will get of the UK – and first impressions matter.’  

The issue has been exacerbated by a shortage of Border Force agents and many going into self-isolation for Covid. But earlier this week a senior Tory MP insisted the issues should have been addressed ‘a long time ago’.

‘This has been a constant problem throughout the pandemic and I appreciate the Home Office may have had difficulties recruiting to the Border Force but that is not a new problem,’ the MP told MailOnline.

‘They should have addressed this a long time ago. It adds to travel uncertainty and it is not good for the travel industry or the travelling public. The Border Force needs to be better organised.’  

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary brands travel traffic light system ‘monstrously stupid’ as he calls for it to be scrapped so UK can ‘return to normality’ 

Ryanair’s boss has branded the traffic light system ‘monstrously stupid’ and called for it to be scrapped so the UK can ‘return to normality’.

Michael O’Leary, 63, suggested replacing the scheme with a ‘simple’ policy that allows unrestricted entry for double-jabbed passengers from Europe.

The Irish businessman said travellers who have received one or neither of the vaccine doses should still have to take a PCR test.

Currently, arrivals in England from low-risk ‘green’ countries and medium-risk ‘amber’ locations must take two Covid tests, even if they are fully vaccinated. 

Meanwhile, all travellers coming from red-list destinations must quarantine in a hotel for 10 days and take three tests.

The comments come amid Heathrow Airport’s fourth day of queueing chaos, with passengers facing yet more huge waits at the border. 

Mr O’Leary told The Independent: ‘The traffic light system needs to be scrapped. 

‘You need to have a very simple system: if you’re double vaccinated, no restrictions. If you’re not double vaccinated, get a PCR test.’

He added: ‘This monstrously stupid system, that requires passengers from Europe to be double vaccinated and get a PCR test, doesn’t help deal with the Covid problem.’

The Ryanair chief then demanded a ‘return to normality’. 

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport (DfT) said: ‘Our top priority is to protect public health – decisions on our traffic light system are kept under regular review and are informed by the latest risk assessment from the Joint Biosecurity Centre and wider public health factors.

‘We recognise the challenging times facing the travel sector, which is why we have committed around £7billion of support by September 2021 and continue to work with industry to help them navigate this difficult period.’

It comes as the airline expects annual passenger numbers to reach ‘close to 100 million’ this year compared with 149 million before the virus crisis, and exceed pre-pandemic levels next summer.

Ryanair announced that it will operate 14 new routes from London airports this winter.

From Stansted it will serve Helsinki and Tampere in Finland; Oradea in Romania; Stockholm, Sweden; Trapani and Treviso in Italy; and Zagreb, Croatia.

The locations which will be served from Luton are Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria in Spain’s Canary Islands; Grenoble, France; Naples and Turin in Italy; and Shannon, Ireland. 

A new link to Malaga in Spain will open at Gatwick. 

Ryanair said the announcement will create more than 500 jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers at its London airports.

Meanwhile, Britons rushed to snap up bargain flights to Italy after the country said it would drop Covid quarantine rules for double-jabbed UK arrivals from today.

The most booked cities since the changes were announced on Saturday have been Rome, Milan, Naples and Venice – with £11 return flights still available in September.

Flight comparison website Skyscanner said it had seen a week-on-week increase of 214 per cent in searches for flights from Britain to Italy, as well as a 48 per cent rise comparing the day before and after the announcement.   

Boris Johnson seeks to extend ‘draconian’ Covid rules until next MARCH in case of a winter surge in cases – setting up a new battle with Tory backbenchers

Boris Johnson is planning to renew Covid laws for another six months to cover a possible winter surge, setting himself up for a new showdown with lockdown-sceptic Tory backbenchers.

The Coronavirus Act provisions have to be renewed every six months and Downing Street wants a vote on carrying them through to March after Parliament returns next week.

But such a move is likely to lead to fury on Mr Johnson’s backbenches, where many MPs want to see the economic recovery given priority.

Some 35 voted against extending the rules in March and given the vaccination programme has progressed significantly since then, it paves the way for a wider rebellion when it comes to a Commons vote later this month.

In march, then health secretary Matt Hancock said it would be ‘preferable’ if the laws were not renewed again. 

Tory rebel Marcus Fysh, who voted against the act in March, told MailOnline: ‘I think this is a very bad, unnecessary move and I and many colleagues will be opposing.’

It came as an exclusive new poll for MailOnline revealed half of Brits believe it is likely Mr Johnson will impose another lockdown before the end of this year.   

The analysis by Redfield & Wilton Strategies found 50 per cent of people believe another national shutdown could be on the cards in 2021. Just a quarter, 25 per cent, believe another lockdown is unlikely. 

Meanwhile, a majority of Brits, some 60 per cent, would support Mr Johnson taking such action if coronavirus cases skyrocket. 

Mark Harper, the Conservative MP and chairman of the Covid Recovery Group, told the Financial Times the law contained ‘the most draconian detention powers in modern British legal history’ and should be allowed to lapse. 

They have to be voted upon every six months to remain in force and automatically lapse in March after two years.

‘Our vaccine rollout has been a huge success. We have seen a dramatic and welcome fall in people suffering from serious disease and death from Covid as a result,’ he said.  

‘We are going to have to learn to live with this virus, and retaining sweeping powers of detention in the Coronavirus Act is not consistent with this. What justification can there be for extending these measures?’

A government spokesman said: ‘We will allow temporary powers in the Coronavirus Act to expire wherever possible, as we have at previous review points.

‘However, it would be irresponsible to allow all temporary provisions to expire. Doing so would remove the government’s ability to protect renters from eviction, give sick pay to those self-isolating from day one, and direct schools to reopen where needed, for example. 

‘The British public would expect us to retain these powers in case they are needed through the winter.’

The Prime Minister said he wanted the nation’s exit from the last lockdown to be ‘irreversible’. 

Any attempt to reimpose Covid-19 curbs would spark a furious backlash from backbench Tory MPs. 

In March, the Commons voted 484 to 76, a majority of 408, in favour of keeping the Covid powers in place into the autumn, despite Matt Hancock admitting he cannot rule out trying to renew them again.

Kicking off the debate in the Commons the then health secretary was unable to guarantee it was the last time MPs would be asked to roll-over the powers, which are largely unprecedented in peace time

Mr Johnson suffered a significant revolt on his own backbenches as 35 Conservative MPs voted against the renewal of the Coronavirus Act while a further 20 chose to abstain. Some 21 Labour MPs also voted against.

Those who opted to vote against include former cabinet ministers David Davis and Esther McVey.

The Tory rebels had questioned why the laws needed to be kept in place for so long with lockdown scheduled to end in the summer.

The rebellion failed after the vast majority of Labour MPs sided with the Government to support the law. 

But a swathe of the Labour left also opposed it against the party whip.

Former leader Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘The Tories can’t be trusted with our civil liberties, and are still not taking the action needed for public health, jobs and livelihoods.’

Zarah Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South, also voted against the act’s renewal, saying: ‘We need an approach that protects everyone, leaving no-one behind and safeguarding our liberties.

‘None of us are safe until we are all safe.’

The MailOnline poll of 1,500 people, conducted from September 1-2, found that 16 per cent of people believe another lockdown this year is very likely.  

Some 34 per cent believe a shutdown is likely while 18 per cent believe it is unlikely and seven per cent believe it is very unlikely. 

The numbers suggest that a majority of the nation would support the Prime Minister making such a move if the scale of infections demanded it. 

Some 26 per cent of respondents said they would strongly support another lockdown if coronavirus cases increased to ‘significant levels’. 

Just over a third, 34 per cent, said they would support the step while 12 per cent would oppose it and 11 per cent would strongly oppose it.