The U.K. has reported a nationwide issue impacting travelers today, Saturday May 27.
The eGates, which are operated by the U.K. government’s Border Force, reportedly went down on Friday night and are impacting operations across the country including at main international arrival airports such as Heathrow, Manchester and Gatwick.
The eGates use facial recognition to verify a traveler’s identity and are usually welcomed as a measure that speeds up the security process.
A number of airports have issued statements to say they are working closely with Border Force to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and several have additional colleagues on hand to manage queues and provide passenger welfare. Airports note however that the outage will have an impact on passenger journeys.
The U.K.’s largest airport, Heathrow, is also struggling with industrial action today as security staff continue a three day strike. On strike days, passengers are only allowed to bring two items of carry-on baggage through security.
In a separate incident, London City Airport was the subject of a cyber attack on May 28. The pro-Russian NoName Hackers Group claimed responsibility. The attack targeted the website, displaying an error message to anyone attempting to access the site. The airport said flight operations were not impacted.
This story was updated on May 29 to include information about the cyber attack on London City Airport.
