Air travelers again face huge queues at airports London Border chaos continued to affect UK holidays as of last night – Stansted and Heathrow were badly hit amid claims of long waits.
Team GB Hockey player Shona McClellan was among those returning to Heathrow yesterday and filmed a video showing how most of Border Force’s desks were closed while passengers lined up.
Others said that the queues at Stansted were so bad that they missed the last train to London Liverpool Street station and had to pay £180 for one instead. Uber Usually £55 for a trip.
Huge queues have been brewing at Heathrow since international travel resumed in May, with some travelers reporting waiting three hours at the passport gate and the Home Office deeming the situation ‘unacceptable’.
The Home Office has been contacted today by MailOnline as to why there were further delays yesterday.
This comes before the change to the travel system in a week’s time on October 4, when a simpler two-tier system will be in place. Countries will be divided into a single Red List and a ‘Rest of the World’ safe category.
Ricardo Abrem, chief product officer of payments service ePayments in London, was one of those caught in the Stansted chaos last night, urging border forces to ‘please get your *** together’.
Huge queues broke out at London Stansted Airport last night as chaos at the border continues to affect British travelers
People wait a long time to pass through the passport gate after landing at London Stansted Airport last night
A passenger described the queues at London Stansted Airport last night as a ‘ridiculous situation that often happens’.
He told MailOnline today: ‘It was a ridiculous situation that happens often. The flight landed at 11.20, I left the airport at 1.30 with the destination Liverpool Street.
Insulate Britain creates disruption on the M25 near Heathrow Airport
Insulate Britain protesters have disrupted the M25 for the sixth time in a fortnight despite prohibitory orders, meaning they could be jailed.
Group activists blocked the slip road at Junction 14 near Heathrow this morning. A total of 52 protesters arrived at around 8 am and the police brought them to the brink.
Police officers today arrested protesters from Insulate Britain at the intersection leading to Heathrow Airport from the M25
Some affixed themselves to each other’s obstacles, and the road was tarmac and blue sprinkled. A total of 53 people were arrested.
The group, part of Extinction Rebellion, is calling on the government to insulate homes in the UK to help cut carbon emissions.
His controversial tactic has led to national highways being inhibited to stop people obstructing the M25 and A20 following further demonstrations at the Port of Dover on Friday.
The injunction means protesters could face time in jail for blocking the route. Since the start of the campaign, the police have made dozens of arrests.
‘Due to delays in that time and border control, the last train was already long. There are two options left; Another big queuing for buses or calling an Uber would normally charge £180 for a trip of £55.
‘This whole situation happens very often and it is just bad management and organization which hides the pretext of shortage of staff due to COVID-19.’
Across the capital at Heathrow, Ibrahim Herb, who does marketing work, tweeted a video of the huge queues shortly before 2pm yesterday, saying: ‘Unacceptable queue times at Heathrow. Some passengers are waiting for six hours.
A Home Office spokesperson told MailOnline that it is completely wrong to suggest that there were six-hour queues at Heathrow and Stansted last night, adding: ‘Throughout the pandemic we have been clear that queue times are long and the Border Force is constantly reviewing it. Flexibly deploys our staff at airports to improve roster and capacity, and wait times.’
And Team GB hockey player Shona McClellan posted a video from Heathrow last night at 8 p.m., saying: ‘Is there a reason all the desks are closed when the queue is 40 minutes long?’
MailOnline revealed yesterday that the recent chaos at Britain’s borders has been inspired by ‘nightmares’ in the guard’s rota, which has forced them to work long shifts.
An IT failure at Heathrow last Friday caused further problems, forcing thousands of people to wait in queues for three hours.
A Border Bal official suggested that the problems are at least partly due to changes in staff rota, which saw a two-hour shift in August.
Officials had already increased the duration of their shifts to 10 hours and 25 minutes, but this was further increased to just 12 hours, meaning more employees suffered exhaustion and were called sick as a result.
The unnamed staff member told MailOnline: ‘Rota is a nightmare. He asked all officers to extend his shift by two hours. So the already long 10.25 hour shift becomes 12.25 hours.
These new rosters were launched by Raj Johal, Deputy Director at Heathrow. They are highly unpopular including employees, higher officials, senior executives and department of rostering and resource management.
He also claimed that more than 20 percent of workers were sick in August, compared to nearly half the absenteeism rate on a typical day. The worker said: ‘It’s only going to get worse’.
The Immigration Services Union backed up the staff member’s claims, saying that a variety of rostering issues during the Covid-19 pandemic have ‘created chaos for employees and sparked widespread outrage’.
But a spokesperson for the Home Office said: ‘It is incorrect to say that the change in the Rota of Border Force personnel led to an increase in illness in August.
‘The changes were introduced only on 22 August, and were made after extensive consultation with employees and trade unions, including the Immigration Service Union, to improve our operational efficiency and effectiveness.
‘Our top priority is to protect the safety and health of the public. We will never compromise on border security and will continue to fulfill our important task of securing the border and providing the necessary resources to do so.
Team GB hockey player Shona McClellan (left) was among those returning to Heathrow yesterday and filmed a video (right) showing how most of Border Force’s desks were closed while passengers lined up
‘The Border Force regularly reviews staffing requirements to ensure that resources are deployed flexibly to fulfill the critical task of border guarding.’
Heavy queues were first reported at Heathrow on 17 May, when passengers flying into the UK suffered ‘bedlams’ at the passport gate.
In July, passengers said they had ‘never seen anything like this’ like the queues at Heathrow Terminal 5 as officers blamed scenes of staff self-isolating.
Similar scenes in August were also blamed on staff shortages due to Covid-19.
Further photos and videos from earlier this month showed long queues of commuters without any social distancing.
A vacationer narrated how he saw a pregnant woman walk out in a span of about 45 minutes after only “about five feet away” from the queue.
A Heathrow spokesperson said Friday the delay was due to a “system failure” affecting the airport’s e-gates.
Documentary producer Louis Theroux was among the thousands of passengers trapped in the chaos of the journey.
Disgruntled travelers took to social media to share their frustration with one claiming that the queues for immigration checks were “one kilometer” long and others chanting “absolute spectacle”.
Travel industry experts have repeatedly warned that the chaotic scenes seen after the country’s reopening are tarnishing the UK’s global reputation, while the risk of a spike in COVID cases is running out – already beset tourism putting the region at greater risk.
Tory lawmakers sought an answer from the head of the Border Force on the Heathrow queuing scandal seen in recent months, but the agency’s director general, Paul Lincoln, has not publicly commented on the issue in recent weeks.
Border Force chief Paul Lincoln, a career civil servant who has also served in the Ministry of Defense and the Cabinet Office, his salary ranged from £130,000 to £135,000 in the previous financial year, between £135,000 and £140,000, the accounts show. .
He has oversaw a summer of Heathrow border chaos at least in May, when some travelers reported waiting three hours at the passport gate.
In July, it was announced that he would soon leave his current role, a month after he was made an OBE for Services to the Border Security.
Former Tory leader Sir Ian Duncan-Smith and North Wiltshire MP James Gray have asked senior officials, including Mr Lincoln, to explain what caused the ‘unacceptable’ queues.
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