Passengers arriving at major British airports, such as Heathrow Airport in close proximity to London, encountered extensive queues at immigration checkpoints lasting several hours on Tuesday evening. The British Border Force confirmed that a nationwide computer malfunction, which led to the delays, had been resolved.
Heathrow Airport, the largest in the country, acknowledged the issue through its social media channels at 9:15 p.m., stating, “Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers being processed through the border.”
By the early hours of Wednesday, just before 2 a.m., Heathrow Airport declared the situation as resolved.
The Home Office, responsible for overseeing the Border Force, informed BBC News that the outage had been addressed across all airports shortly after midnight. A spokesperson for the agency clarified that the problem arose around 7:50 p.m. on Tuesday. Notably, there was no indication of a deliberate cyber attack, and border security remained intact throughout the incident.
Multiple airports, including Manchester Airport, Gatwick Airport near London, and Belfast International Airport in Northern Ireland, reported disruptions on Tuesday evening. However, the exact extent of affected airports remained unclear.
Authorities identified the malfunction’s origin as the Border Force’s “eGates,” which facilitate the immigration process for arriving passengers.
While Gatwick and Manchester Airports stated there were no flight disruptions due to the outage, they collaborated with Border Force officials to aid passengers encountering delays during immigration procedures.
Social media circulated images depicting crowded and stagnant queues in front of immigration gates labeled “UK Border” at Heathrow Airport.
