Worldwide airline passengers arriving at Heathrow Airport close to London confronted lengthy traces at immigration checkpoints for a number of hours on Tuesday night after the British Border Drive reported a nationwide laptop outage, officers mentioned.
“Border Drive is at present experiencing a nationwide subject which is impacting passengers being processed by the border,” Heathrow, the nation’s largest airport, mentioned on social media at 9:15 p.m.
Simply earlier than 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Heathrow announced that the issue had been resolved, but it surely was unclear if that was the case for different impacted airports.
Manchester Airport, Gatwick Airport close to London, Belfast International Airport in Northern Eire and a number of other different airports had reported being affected Tuesday night, although the general variety of affected airports wasn’t clear.
Officers mentioned that the issue originated with the Border Force’s “eGates,” immigration checkpoints that course of arriving passengers by the border.
Officers at Gatwick and Manchester Airports mentioned Tuesday that there have been no flight delays or cancellations associated to the outage, however mentioned that they had been working with Border Drive officers to help passengers experiencing delays at immigration.
It was unclear when the outage started or what prompted it. An inquiry emailed to the U.Ok.’s Residence Workplace, which administers the Border Drive, was not instantly answered Tuesday.
Pictures on social media showed crammed, stagnant lines in entrance of a row of gates beneath indicators that learn “UK Border” at Heathrow Airport.