Heathrow chaos as ‘just two’ staff check passports
CHAOTIC five-hour queues at Heathrow were branded ‘unacceptable’ by the Home Office last night, as furious holidaymakers complained there were just two Border Force staff on duty checking passports.
Exasperated passengers shared shocking photographs of thousands crammed in arrival areas with no ventilation and no access to water.
Traveller Sonny Singh told how he saw a pregnant woman faint while waiting for immigration checks on Friday evening.
He said: ‘There were thousands of families queuing and just two people checking documents.
‘Children were screaming and crying. The queue moved about 5ft in the space of about 45 minutes. Then, when the pregnant woman fainted, it finally got through to someone somewhere – the kids were then put on the side to sit while the adults waited in the queue and it began moving faster.’
Another traveller said: ‘ The queues have been three to five hours long. I landed in Terminal 5 and the transit train wasn’t working so we had to walk in a tunnel for about 20 minutes with no ventilation during Covid. There are people collapsing in Arrivals due to overcrowding and no ventilation.’
Under Covid-19 protocols, anyone arriving in Britain must fill in a ‘passenger locator form’ with their contact details. Travellers also need to submit a negative test result and book at least one further PCR test.
Henry Smith, of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation, said: ‘More resources need to be put into managing the chaos at the border at Heathrow, otherwise it could lead to increased risk of Covid transmission.’
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The very long wait times at Heathrow (on Friday night) are unacceptable. This is the busiest weekend of the year for returning passengers.’ A Heathrow spokesman said: ‘We are very sorry. Border Force were aware of the extra demand from families and we were very disappointed that they did not provide sufficient resources.’