International airline passengers arriving at Heathrow Airport near London faced long queues at immigration checkpoints for several hours on Tuesday evening after the British Border Force reported a nationwide computer outage, officials said.
“Border Force is currently experiencing a nationwide issue which is impacting passengers transiting across the border,” Heathrow, the country's largest airport, said on social media at 9.15pm
Just before 2am on Wednesday, Heathrow announced that the problem had been resolvedbut it is not clear whether this also happened at the other affected airports.
Manchester Airport, Gatwick Airport near London, Belfast International Airport in Northern Ireland and several other airports had reported being hit by Tuesday evening, although the overall number of affected airports was unclear.
Officials said the problem originated from the Border Force's “eGates”, the immigration checkpoints that process passengers arriving across the border.
Officials at Gatwick and Manchester airports said on Tuesday there had been no flight delays or cancellations linked to the disruption, but said they were working with Border Force officials to assist passengers who experienced immigration delays .
It is unclear when the outage began or what caused it. An emailed request to the UK Home Office, which administers the Border Force, was not immediately responded to on Tuesday.
Bright images social media showed crammed, stagnant lines in front of a row of gates under 'UK Border' signs at Heathrow Airport.