Sunday, 11pm: Welcome to chaos at passport control
IT was late on a Sunday night, well away from the holiday season ... and this was the sight greeting weary travellers arriving at Luton Airport.
The hall ahead of passport control was packed – because too few staff were manning the desks to let the crowds back into the country.
The scene, captured at 11pm on November 13, is reminiscent of pictures last month when Stansted was similarly caught out.
And it’s a picture that will be seen again and again, according to airport chiefs and Border Force officials.
Millions of passengers are enduring long delays due to problems caused by crippling cuts to UK Border Force.
Ministers have slashed Border Force funding from £617million in 2012-13 to £497million in 2015-16, according to a Parliamentary answer. This was a drop of £120million – or 19 per cent.
But the number of people using Britain’s airports for holidays or business trips has soared by 40million since 2010. Over the same period, the number of border guards fell from 9,145 to 8,153. Figures from Heathrow show in recent months Border Force has regularly missed its target of checking international travellers’ passports within 45 minutes.
Airports say the situation has become so dire that their own employees are often forced to step in to man e-gates, which check passports automatically.
One airport spokesman said the huge queues create a ‘bad welcome’ for foreigners visiting the UK. The chaos is often worse on Sunday and Monday nights as tourists return from holidays and weekend breaks.
Henk van Klaveren from the Airport Operators’ Association – which represents UK airports – said: ‘We are concerned that we are seeing increasing queues across UK airports. While airports are investing in improving the passenger experience – such as improving terminals – we have seen that Border Force resources have not kept up pace.’
Mr van Klaveren added that one of the reasons for the lack of man- power is the Home Office’s investment in e-gates. He said: ‘Border Force see e-gates as a way to increase capacity without increasing staff.
‘The problem is you need good staff to help passengers use them. They are a valuable addition to managing the border. It is not a one-for-one replacement for staff.’
Manchester Airports Group, which also owns Stansted, said it was symptomatic of a bigger problem and was creating a bad impression. In April, then Home Secretary Theresa May announced Border Force’s resource budget was being cut by £2million thiss year despite fears over Britain’ss border security.
A Border Force staff member said:: ‘The situation is utter chaos. Theree are not enough staff to deal with alll the passengers coming through andd that is leading to huge queues.’
Luton, which has e- passportt gates, claimed the scenes at passport control were not typical. It added that its small passport hall l can make it look crowded.