Beckham pulls off crutches in style at Paris Fashion Week

FAMILIES face the risk of their Easter holiday plans being thrown into chaos as Border Force officers at Heathrow plan to go on strike.

Around 600 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union are being balloted on whether to go on strike at Heathrow from April onwards.

If union members vote for a strike, any industrial action could hit families trying to get home from the Easter holidays.

It comes as train companies have scheduled engineering works to be carried out over the holiday, with London Euston planning to close down completely over the weekend.

The PCS union said its members were unhappy about planned changes to rosters and shift patterns, claiming some staff might quit.

Fran Heathcote, the PCS general secretary said: “Our members at Heathrow are united in their opposition to these draconian plans.

“One aspect of the plans would force workers to choose between finding another job or losing their allowances. Another would see others having to sign up to new, exhausting shifts or leaving altogether. This is an appalling way to treat long-serving, dedicated staff, so it’s no wonder we’ve recruited hundreds of members in recent weeks.”

The PCS union ballot starts on March 1 and will run until March 22.

Under laws regulating trade unions no strike could take place until Friday April 5 at the earliest, potentially causing long queues at passport control in the final week of the school Easter holidays.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesman said: “Given that this is only a ballot for potential strike action and no such action is confirmed, our advice to customers remains to travel as planned.”

Neither British Airways, which counts Heathrow as its home base with hundreds of airliners based at the airport, nor the Home Office responded to requests for comment.

The potential strike threatens to pile fresh controversy on to Border Force, which is in charge of running passport gates at Britain’s airports. Earlier this week, David Neal, the former chief inspector of borders and immigration, said that protections at Britain’s borders and airports were “neither effective nor efficient”.

After inspecting Heathrow, Stansted and Luton airports, he found that border posts were left unmanned, staff were distracted and guidance was ignored.

Mr Neal was sacked earlier this month after accusing the Home Office of burying a series of reports he authored that explained the security risks.

He claimed he was fired “for doing my job” of unveiling “inconvenient” truths about the failings of the system.

In his annual report, covering April 2022 to March 2023, Mr Neal accused the Home Office of a “culture of defensiveness”, claiming he had experienced “significant pushback” while drafting inspection reports, including responses which “have gone way beyond” just checking factual accuracy. After inspecting airport e-gates, he said: “I believe the protection of the border is neither effective nor efficient.”

‘This is an appalling way to treat staff, so it’s no wonder we’ve recruited hundreds of members recently’

A Heathrow spokesman said the airport would work closely with Border Force to reduce any disruption caused for passengers if a strike went ahead.

Other airports around the country said they were not expecting the strike threat to spread.

The potential Border Force strike comes ahead of other travel disruptions which are set to hit the UK during the Easter bank holiday weekend, with Good Friday falling on March 29 this year.

Network Rail warned that planned engineering work will partially close the West Coast Main Line between the Midlands, north-west England, Scotland and London over that weekend.

“Your journey to and from London will be significantly disrupted,” the company said.

The train operator Avanti West Coast warned that Euston station would be closed between March 29 and April 1, with northbound travellers from London being advised to take LNER trains from London St Pancras instead.

VICTORIA BECKHAM has been forced to style it out on crutches at her own fashion show in Paris.

While the event may traditionally call for an uncompromisingly of-the-moment look, the British designer’s outfit plans appear to have been scuppered after suffering a broken foot.

Beckham nevertheless sought to make the best of the injury, and arrived at Paris Fashion Week on black crutches which perfectly matched black leather jacket, sunglasses and trousers.

Earlier this week she was seen wearing a high heel on one foot and a medical boot on the other.

Of the crutches, she jokingly said: “I’m finding these very empowering” at a preview of her latest collection, shown at Paris Fashion Week yesterday evening, as she wielded them to point out details on a dress.

Two weeks into life on walking aids, with five more to go, she said she had “really had to embrace a legging and a kitten heel”. The designer had been planning to wear a new ultra-long trouser style from her collection to take her bow after presenting her latest designs on the catwalk last night.

However, she said she was “a bit worried that if I get the crutch stuck on the right leg I’d go flying and I don’t want

‘I was worried that if I get the crutch stuck on the right leg I’d go flying. I don’t want another fall’

another accident”. Instead she wore a slightly less precarious pair of tailored black trousers and a black tank top as she slowly made her way to her family at the end of the show.

The Victoria Beckham show, held at the grand Hotel Salomon de Rothschild, was a chance for her family to assemble around its matriarch.

Husband David and their daughter Harper, 12, sat alongside eldest son Brooklyn and his wife Nicola Anne Peltz Beckham, who was rocking a pair of sky-high heels and body-con red dress. The footballer Ronaldo also joined the family on the front row.

The new collection included a slinky navy dress that was crafted to look like bedsheets billowing in the wind as they dry on the washing line, leather bomber jackets with exaggerated high collars and blazers that hung from the front of the models’ bodies to expose their backs. A new bag was inspired by a vintage briefcase she had bought for David in Tokyo last year.

The former Spice Girl, 49, had shared a video with her fans in which she toasted the start of the annual fashion showcase with a glass of £160 tequila.

She previously told fans that she had broken her left foot because she “fell over at the gym”. Her husband elaborated, telling fans on Instagram: “Apparently my wife’s little accident in the gym was a clean break.”