Manchester Airport has warned passengers they may face 'longer waiting times' after passport control e-gates went down at all UK airports.
The issue, according to the Home Office, is affecting holidaymakers flying back into airports from abroad. It will mean all passengers will have to pass through manned passport control desks at immigration.
The computer system controlling electronic passport control gates is understood to have gone down nationally late last night and into the early hours of this morning.
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The Home Office, which is responsible for border control, said it was working to correct the problem.
"We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the UK," the Home Office said, reports the Mirror.
"We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and are liaising with port operators and airlines to minimise disruption for travellers." Holidaymakers, meanwhile, have been sharing images of long queues.
In a series of tweets, the first in the early hours of Saturday, Manchester Airport said: "UK Border Force is currently experiencing an outage affecting its e-gates. There are currently no significant queues, but this may result in longer waiting times.
"Our team is working with UK Border Force to support their operations and minimise disruption. We appreciate your understanding."
The second tweet said: "UK Border Force is currently experiencing an issue impacting all of its e-gates. This may result in longer waiting times for passengers. Our team is working with UK Border Force to support their operations and minimise disruption. We appreciate your understanding."
One passenger at Gatwick said it was an "utter joke", while another at Heathrow spoke of the "mother of all queues".
Lucy Morton, from the Immigration Services Union, warned that queues would build "very, very quickly".
"You end up putting all the passengers through physically-manned officer desks," she told the BBC's Radio 4.
"Staff can't take the breaks that they should be taking ... the whole thing will snowball very quickly."
She said between 60-8 per cent of travelling passengers will go through e-gates, depending on the airport.
"There's no impact on national security," she said, adding all arrivals will still be fully checked.
"But it will build queues and that in itself builds its own set of problems. People becomes frustrated, they take it out on the staff. All of this will cascade during the day."
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