Bristol Airport is ‘up and running’ again after National Border Force nightmare

Bristol Airport has confirmed that border control is back to normal after a nationwide “disruption” which affected the Border Force. The airport warned passengers on Tuesday evening (May 7) that electronic gates were affected by the national issue and flyers could face long delays when crossing the border.

A number of other airports were also affected and pictures taken showed long queues of tourists trying to return to the country. Several passengers who passed through Bristol Airport praised staff for their “great organisation” during the disruption and said they were able to get through border control in around 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, at larger airports such as Heathrow and Manchester, queues stretched for hours, the Manchester Evening News (MEN) reports. The issue is understood to have affected e-gate systems used by airports, which crashed at major airports across the country.

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

Bristol Airport has since confirmed that all systems, including electronic gates, are now working as normal. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the airport said: “Following the Border Force national outage reported yesterday, all systems including e-Gate are now back in operation.

“Customers arriving today can expect to travel through the border as normal. We would like to thank all affected customers for their patience.”

Commenting on the post, several passengers praised the airport and Border Force staff, saying they only had to wait around 20 minutes. One wrote: “I came early.

“20 minute delay where nothing moved. The staff was epic though. He came to the booths in force and processed us. Excellent organization by Border Force staff and Bristol Airport “

The e-gate issue comes as airports are urging travelers to familiarize themselves with current hand luggage rules ahead of a future change to the law. Bristol Airport revealed: “From the summer of 2024, the next generation of security search technology will be introduced at Bristol Airport. This will eliminate the need for passengers to remove items from their bags, transforming airport security screening and creating an easier experience for passengers.”

The 100ml liquid rule will no longer apply to tourists, who will now be able to pass through security with containers of up to two liters in their hand luggage. However, some flyers were held up at security mistakenly believing that this rule had already been introduced everywhere.

The airport warned: “Passengers will still need to comply with the existing requirements, which are to remove all liquids and place them in a clear resealable bag. Containers must be a maximum of 100ml and the contents must fit comfortably in the sealed bag. , put laptops, electronic and electrical items separately in a tray and remove coats, belts and jackets and put them in the tray.”