Passport gate failure probed
THREE BARRIERS AT AIRPORT ALLOWED WOMAN TO PASS USING WRONG DOCUMENT
A HOME Office investigation is under way after a woman entered the UK through Newcastle International Airport’s electronic gates using the wrong passport.
The woman reportedly alerted border staff when she successfully passed through “faulty” ePassport gates during the incident on March 3.
They then asked her to try two further gates using the wrong documentation – which also let her through.
The sophisticated new gates, manufactured by Vision Box, were installed last summer to improve security and get passengers arriving at Newcastle through passport control more quickly. Using facial recognition technology and a passport scanner, the machines can get up to 10 passengers through in a minute - up from the three a minute achieved by manual passport desks.
However, an airport insider told The Sun the technology has led to “longer queues, huge numbers of complaints and now it is found it will let anyone through”.
The source claimed: “This is not a first - it has happened before pretty much at every port which has these gates.
“This incident, and others like it, make us a laughing stock. It will, and should, go all the way to the minister.”
A security expert also said the faulty gates could lead to terrorists and people on watch lists coming into the country.
Prof Anthony Glees, a leading security expert and director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies, said: “Immigration control is the front line and defence in the fight against terrorists coming into the country.
“If these biometric scanners are not working then as sure as day follows night the people who we wish to exclude from entering the UK might not be excluded.
“This could lead to untold numbers of people who we do not want in the country getting into the country.
“If this has happened, even once, it could happen again
“However, what I would like to know is how many times has it already happened without people having realised it.
“It is a matter of grave concern because at the heart of our immigration policy in the UK is controlling who comes through our borders.
“We have always been able to exclude people who are not conducive to the public safety or who are on a watch list.”
A Home Office spokeswoman said: “We are aware of an incident at Newcastle Airport involving the e-gates on March 3 and are investigating.”
Newcastle International Airport said the operation and performance of the gates was a matter for the Home Office and declined to comment.