Electronic passport control is working again at UK airports

London, 28 May. A UK Home Office spokeswoman said electronic passport check gates were operating again on Sunday at UK airports after a technical fault that left them out of service the previous day was resolved.

“We can confirm that all the ‘electronic gates’ (as they are called in English) are now operating normally,” the source said.

The ministry responsible for the border force in charge of immigration controls thanked the affected travelers “for their patience” as well as the efforts of the staff who worked to resolve the issue.

The fall of the electronic gates from Friday afternoon until last night caused long lines on Saturday at airports such as London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted to pass passport control, which had to be manually checked by immigration officers.

According to Lucy Morton, a spokeswoman for the Confederation of Immigration Services, between 60 and 80% of passengers arriving in the UK usually pass through these electronic gates, which are powered by facial recognition technology.

This passport scanning system can be used by British and EU citizens over the age of 12 and from other countries such as Australia, Canada, USA, Japan and New Zealand. EFE

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