A Border Force system fault threw major UK airports into chaos at passport gates last night.

The e-gate system at Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Manchester were affected, with additional reports of issues at airports in Northern Ireland.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are aware of a technical issue affecting eGates across the country. We are working closely with Border Force and affected airports to resolve the issue as soon as possible and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused.”

Images shared on social media show long lines of holidaymakers trying to return to the UK on Tuesday evening, while passenger Dr Douglas Meakin told Mirror.co.uk that London Heathrow Terminal 2's border control is "a catastrophe". He said: "I estimate it'll take around three hours to get through. No updates, no information, no nothing. It's worse than any third world country I've been to. Unbelievable."

Abigail O'Leary

Heathrow says "all systems running as usual"

Heathrow has said Border Force systems are now "running as usual" as thousands of customers remain stuck at airports across the country as queues slowly make their way through the system.

In a tweet, the major London airport said: "Following the Border Force national outage yesterday evening, all systems are now running as usual. Passengers can expect to travel through Heathrow smoothly. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Abigail O'Leary

'I've seen three people fainting'

Beatriz posted to X how she had been stuck in a huge crowd due to an e-gate malfunction at Stansted, saying a number of people had fainted as it was "too hot".

She wrote: "E-gates have stopped working at several UK airports. Here at #Stansted I’ve seen 3 people fainting. It’s too hot, too crowded and no water is being provided. We’ve been here for over 2 hours on top of the previous hour thousands of us spent stuck on our airplanes. #airportchaos"

Abigail O'Leary

'The toilet taps have run out of water'

Joanna Griffin, who is stuck in a queue at Stansted Airport, told the Mirror: "[There are] loads of children waiting and no one has water or food. It’s a complete disgrace - they never have enough gates for a backup if the computer system fails."

Barrister Chris, 36, told the Mirror he was stuck on a British Airways plane on the tarmac at Heathrow T5. He said: "We arrived slightly early from Lisbon but have not been allowed to disembark. Sadly I have work in the morning - the crew doesn’t know when they’ll be able to let us off."

Chris, from North West London, added: "We haven't been given any refreshments yet. The toilet taps actually ran out of water, so people have had to use bottled water to wash their hands!"

British Airways sent a message to its passengers waiting to get through Passport Control. The message read: "We are sorry to inform you that due to an IT issue at Border Force UK, you might experience some delays in disembarking your plane and clearing immigration at London Heathrow. This is outside of our control, our teams are working with border force to ensure you can clear immigration as soon as possible."

Read more on what customers told The Mirror here: EXCLUSIVE: Airport chaos as Brits fume at 'disgrace' passport control queues as kids left without food or water

Abigail O'Leary

'This is a catastrophe'

Doug Meakin told The Mirror: "London Heathrow terminal 2 border control is a catastrophe. I estimate around three hours to get through - No updates, no information, no nothing.

"It's worse than any third world country I've been to. Unbelievable."

A fault - reportedly involving passport e-gates operated by the UK Border Force - has affected a number of airports, including Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Manchester - though the full extent of the issue is yet to be confirmed. An unpsecifief technical issue has been blamed for the issue.

Social media is awash with pictures and videos of holidaymakers forced to stand in snaking queues as they tried to enter the UK this evening. A number of passengers have contacted The Mirror and taken to social media to share what has been happening.

People queue to check in at Heathrow Airport (
Image:
Carl Court/Getty Images)
Ryan Fahey

Heathrow is like 'panedmonium' with Border Force officers 'scrambling around'

Sam Morter, 32, who arrived at Heathrow from Sri Lanka, said it was "pandemonium" when he got to passport control in Terminal 3, where all of the e-gates had blank screens.

He told PA: "There was a lot of Border Force officials running and scrambling around. Four or five went to man the posts and start processing the UK passports manually.

"But at the same time, hundreds of passengers started to flood into passport control, so it all of a sudden became chaotic and they couldn't cope with the number of the people coming in.

"We weren't given any information. There was no information on the Tannoys or from staff."

Ryan Fahey

Gatwick gates may have reopened, according to passenger

Paul Curievici, from Haslemere in Surrey, landed at Gatwick Airport at around 7.30pm on a flight from Lyon and waited in line for almost an hour at passport control.

The 41-year-old told the PA news agency: "(I was) a little bit resigned at what initially looked like another British infrastructure failing, and (I had) quite a lot of sympathy for the poor buggers furrowing their brows and trying not to look embarrassed."

Mr Curievici said the e-gates at Gatwick had since reopened but that fast-track passengers continued to be prioritised, which he found "pretty galling".'

He continued: "There was an awkward moment - half of us had been funnelled into the 'all passports' queue.

"When the system came back online they reopened almost all the UK/EU gates without opening any for us - I actually raised it with a member of staff and they finally opened one."

Ryan Fahey

London-based Barrister 'stuck on tarmac' due to nationwide issue

Barrister Chris, 36, told the Mirror he was stuck on a British Airways plane on the tarmac at Heathrow T5. He said: "We arrived slightly early from Lisbon but have not been allowed to disembark. Sadly I have work in the morning - the crew doesn’t know when they’ll be able to let us off."

Chris, from North West London, added: "We haven't been given any refreshments yet. The toilet taps actually ran out of water, so people have had to use bottled water to wash their hands!"

Ryan Fahey

Northern Irish flight hubs among affected airports

A spokesperson for Belfast International Airport told the Belfast Telegraph they were also experiencing issues.

The spokesperson said: “We are aware that Border Force is experiencing a network wide IT issue.

"We are working with Border Force to deploy their contingency plans to process all internationally arriving flights while the situation is resolved."

Ryan Fahey

Bristol Airport confirms its also experiencing issue

Bristol Airport announced its passport control was affected by the "nationwide issue" that has struck major UK airports tonight.

The airport said on Twitter: "Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers being processed through the Border. As a result of this, e-Gates are not available and wait times may be longer than normal. Our teams are supporting to minimise impact where possible."

Ryan Fahey

Previous Border Force glitch saw huge queues at major airports

Late last month, travellers were stuck in huge queues for at least 45 minutes after a Border Force outage hit UK airports including Edinburgh. The Home Office later confirmed problems with e-Gates. Lengthy lines emerged at Gatwick Airport, with issues also reported at Heathrow and Luton.