Minister apologizes for failures at e-passport gateway

It caused disruption at several UK airports

A minister has apologized to passengers after a fault with Border Force electronic passport gates caused widespread disruption at UK airports.

Travelers faced long queues at airports including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Bristol, Newcastle and Manchester on Tuesday night due to the “technical issue” which lasted several hours.

Electronic gates, automated border gates, use facial recognition to verify a person’s identity to let them into the UK without talking to a Border Force officer.

There are more than 270 electronic gates in 15 airports and train stations across the country, according to the Government’s website.

Because of the disruption, border officials have instead had to process travelers manually, with images and footage circulating online showing long queues forming at passport control at several airports.

Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, Tom Pursglove said an investigation had determined the incident was caused by “technical issues within the Home Office network”.

There was no indication of “malicious cyber activity” behind the fault, the legal migration and border minister told MPs.

Engineers detected a wider system network problem at 7.44pm on Tuesday and electronic gates at UK airports were back “online” shortly after midnight on Wednesday, according to the Home Office.

Mr Pursglove said: “I sincerely apologize for the disruption that has occurred. I can assure the House that myself and the Home Secretary will be unwavering in our determination to ensure that every possible lesson is learned to ensure that this does not happen again.”

Describing how the teams “quickly swung into action”, Mr Pursglove said the fault was fixed “within six minutes” and once the fault was identified, “officials worked closely with partners to fix the problem and restore the service”.

Security checks were “maintained throughout,” he said, adding: “Border security was not compromised at any point and there is no indication of malicious cyber activity. Police access to operational systems was not affected.”

Labor Home Office minister Dan Jarvis joined Pursglove in paying tribute to “passengers who have waited patiently for many hours, some of them after very long flights”, but said the e-gate system “is no longer reliable enough”.

He told the Commons: “I am sure the House will agree that the chaotic scenes at many of the UK’s major airports last night are unacceptable.

“Not least, given that the electronic gates have failed several times in recent years.

“This is unacceptable and highlights how the current high-capacity electronic gate system is no longer sufficiently reliable and risks further damaging public confidence in the Government’s management of our border security.”

The Border Force’s response was evidence that “overall the contingency plans worked”, Mr Pursglove said, adding that there was a “permanent fix” for the specific technical issue that caused the breakdown, as he insisted it was a “occurrence extremely rare”. “.

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