£50k rap for immigration fail

AIRLINES and airports will be fined up to £50,000 every time they blunder and let passengers skip immigration checks.

Around 1,000 travellers a year are put through the wrong gates or sent to the wrong place at the airport and are not seen by immigration officers. Now the Home Office is consulting on creating a new non-criminal penalty.

But the Airport Operators Association called the move “disproportionate” saying its members had an “excellent record”.