Watch: Long queues build at Heathrow airport after nationwide e-gate issue

There were long queues at Heathrow on Tuesday evening (7 May) as a “nationwide issue” with Border Force e-gates caused significant disruption at airports across the country.

Border officials were left to manually process travellers instead, with images and footage shared on social media showing people waiting at passport control.

Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Manchester were also impacted by the issue.

A Home Office spokesperson confirmed early on Wednesday that e-gates at UK airports came back online shortly after midnight.

The automated border gates use facial recognition to check the identity of a person in order to let them enter the UK without talking to a Border Force officer.