Hell at Heathrow: 2,000 arrivals queue for up to 90 minutes at Terminal 5 after e-gates close
Hell at Heathrow: 2,000 arrivals queue for 90 minutes at Terminal 5 with just ‘four’ Border Force staff checking papers due to e-gates being SHUT… four weeks after they reopened following ‘Amber List’ upgrade
- Passengers were left queuing at Heathrow Terminal 5 border last night after e-gates closed due to ‘new rules’
- One person said they waited for up to 90 minutes in the queue last night, alongside up to 2,000 other arrivals
- They claimed there were ‘four’ Border Force staff working at passport control, while the e-gates were closed
- According to the Telegraph, the issue with the e-gates was to do with the change of rules with the Amber List
- Rules have changed meaning double-jabbed arrivals from Amber List countries no longer have to self-isolate
A Heathrow Airport border area was thrown into chaos last night with 90 minute-long queues sparked by the closure of e-gates – just four weeks after they reopened following an Amber List upgrade.
It is believed just four Border Force officials were left manning Terminal 5 passport control last night, when as many as 2,000 passengers arrived at the border hall.
The chaos comes four weeks after e-gates were reopened at Heathrow’s Terminals 2 and 5 following an upgrade to allow the machines to wave-through passengers from Green and Amber List countries.
But it has been reported that the e-gates struggled to process passengers last night following a ‘Freedom Day’ rule change – meaning arrivals from Amber List countries no longer have to automatically self-isolate.
The Border Force also reportedly faced a staffing crisis earlier this week after apparently losing 120 security officials to ‘pings’ from the Covid-19 app. It is not yet clear if the staffing shortage was an issue last night.
One person caught up in last night’s chaos said the situation was ‘totally unacceptable’, while another exasperated passenger branded it ‘ridiculous’.
MailOnline has approached the Border Force, who are in charge of the operation, and Heathrow Airport for comment.
Last night passengers today took to social media to slam the lack of border staff, with one revealing that they had spent up to an hour and 45 minutes queuing at Terminal 5’s passport hall.
One Twitter user said: ‘Hi Heathrow. Is it because of the pingdemic that there’s thousands at border control and maybe 3 staff checking us in?!
It is believed just four Border Force officials were left manning Terminal 5 passport hall last night when as many as 2,000 passengers arrived. Picture: Passengers queue at Heathrow Airport last night
Passengers at the airport say the e-gates were closed last night, while there were ‘just four’ Border Force staff working
‘By my calculations I’m here until 2am. There’s babies toddlers & elderly in the queue.’
They said in a follow-up tweet: ‘There is a palette of water cans in the middle of the queue where people go help themselves as they go since we’re all here for hours.
‘Kids crying. The occasional shouts for opening more gates. People about to miss their connections. It’s such a s***show.
‘No e gates tonight of course. This is dumb,’ before saying: ‘MADE IT. Only 1h45 in a queue that could have been completely avoided with proper staffing.’
Another wrote: ‘So many people – including elderly and young children waiting for the border police to check their documents…. why there not more officers here?
‘Totally unacceptable for an airport like Heathrow. This is so late now, hope to catch the last train.’
It is not clear why the e-gates were shut last night. However, Channel 4 presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy last night tweeted that a Border Force officer had told him that the new gates had not been updated to reflect new travel rules brought in as part of ‘Freedom Day’.
MailOnline has contacted the Border Force, via the Home Office, and Heathrow Airport for comment.
Heathrow last night, responding to another Twitter user who had complained about the queues, saying that they were ‘working with Border Force to reduce queuing times’.
It comes as the Telegraph last week reported a security staff shortage at Heathrow due to staff being ‘pinged’ by the NHS Covid App.
According to the paper, the Border Force were down 120 security personnel last Monday after staff were told to self-isolate.
Passengers reportedly queued for up to 150 minutes due to the border staffing shortfall.
Extra security staff were later drafted in to redress the shortfall, Heathrow said.
Meanwhile, the Heathrow e-gates reopened at Terminals 2 and 5 last month after being closed for upgrades – with more due to be reopened later this summer following testing.
The e-gates were adapted earlier this year so they can be used by passengers returning from green or amber list countries.
But, according to the Telegraph, whose Travel correspondent John Arlidge was caught in last night’s chaos, the e-gates had trouble determining the new quarantine rules.
He wrote: ‘There is currently no button on the UK’s Passenger Locator Form (PFL) to declare that you are exempt from self-isolation because you are fully double vaccinated and coming from an amber country.’
It comes as the Government yesterday eased travel restrictions by dropping the requirement for double-jabbed passengers arriving in the UK from amber-list countries.
As of 4am on Monday, July 19, passengers from Amber List countries are no longer required to undertake an up-to-day 10-day home quarantine.
The rule does not apply to Amber List France, which was put on what is being dubbed the ‘Amber Plus’ list due to rising cases of the Beta (South African) variant.
The rules were last night branded ‘excessive’ by a French minister Clement Beaune, who told French channel BFM TV: ‘It seems to us that the measures taken by the UK are not entirely based on scientific foundations.’
Meanwhile, the Balearic islands were also moved from the UK’s quarantine free Green List to the Amber List.
The sudden move – which came just weeks after the Balearics were moved on to the Green List – sparked unvaccinated Britons holidaying in the likes of Mallorca and Ibiza to make a mad dash for the airports in order to make it back to the UK before the rule change.
Bulgaria and Croatia went the other way, going from amber to green, along with Taiwan and Hong Kong.
However Bulgaria has since banned UK holidaymakers by adding Britain to its ‘red zone’ list – which means only essential journeys can be made.
French minister says Britain’s strict rules insisting double-jabbed arrivals must isolate are ‘excessive’ – and insists the Beta variant is under control in his country
By Henry Martin for MailOnline
Strict rules on arrivals in the UK from France were branded ‘excessive’ by a French minister yesterday amid a furious Whitehall row about who took the controversial decision.
Clement Beaune said the UK’s decision to insist double-jabbed travellers must isolate was not based on scientific evidence.
And he insisted the Beta variant – blamed for the last-minute U-turn on relaxing quarantine for the fully vaccinated – was under control in France.
European affairs minister Mr Beaune told French channel BFM TV: ‘It seems to us that the measures taken by the UK are not entirely based on scientific foundations. We find them excessive.
‘This decision is based on the circulation of the Beta variant, the South African variant, which is in reality now well under control.’
It has been claimed that Britain’s decision to exclude France from the new relaxed rules for double-jabbed arrivals from amber list countries had been based on figures including those from a remote French overseas territory where the Beta variant is more common.
The Indian Ocean island of Reunion recorded 1,450 cases of Covid-19 between July 3 and 9, of which 91 per cent were the Beta and Gamma variants.
The Beta variant has accounted for about 5 per cent of cases in mainland France over recent months, according to Downing Street, but it is feared to be more resistant to vaccines.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said yesterday: ‘The AstraZeneca vaccine appears to be less effective against the Beta variant, that’s why we need to be very cautious about that.
‘What the data publicly available in France shows, and this data does not include Reunion, is that over the past three months on average the Beta variant accounts for around 5 per cent of cases.
‘And that’s a relatively high prevalence which potentially poses a risk to the UK and that’s why it was right to move swiftly.
It comes as the US yesterday upgraded the UK to the highest risk level and warned Americans not to travel here.
Washington informed citizens yesterday there is a ‘very high level of Covid-19’ in Britain.
Meanwhile, a blame game continues in the UK Government over which minister decided late on Friday to change the rules for France, ruining thousands of Britons’ trips and bringing fresh anguish to the struggling travel industry.
Clement Beaune said the UK’s decision to insist double-jabbed travellers must isolate was not based on scientific evidence
It has been claimed that Britain’s decision to exclude France from the new relaxed rules for double-jabbed arrivals from amber list countries had been based on figures including those from a remote French overseas territory where the Beta variant is more common (pictured: Heathrow, June 3)
It is thought that Boris Johnson, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove and Health Secretary Sajid Javid were behind the move.
The Department of Health is said to have overreacted to Covid figures in France. On Sunday another 12,532 cases were reported, compared with 48,161 in the UK.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is thought not to have been invited to the meeting at which France was effectively placed in a new ‘amber-plus’ category, just hours after the review of the traffic light system was announced.
A Whitehall source described the decision-making process as ‘shambolic’. Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Abta, the UK’s largest travel association, said: ‘There’s a lack of transparency around how decisions are being made’, adding: ‘With France there was no indication about the change of direction… And that’s likely to impair consumer confidence to book until they see this settling down into a much more predictable system.’
The Department of Health said last night: ‘The Joint Biosecurity Centre has assessed that France is a high-risk Covid-19 destination due to the circulation of variants of concern, most notably the Beta variant, which presents the greatest risk for UK vaccine escape.’
