Passengers arriving at London Heathrow yesterday faced immigration delays of up to seven hours, and there have been long delays frequently.
Heathrow Airport blames insufficient staffing at the Border Force due to Covid-19 prevention measurements to process the incoming passengers.
Here’s an excerpt from the BBC:
Heathrow Airport said the government needed to make sure there were enough staff to cope with demand.
She told the BBC she began queuing to go through border control at 18:30 on Sunday evening, but did not get through until 01:30 on Monday.
Several passengers told the BBC that they had spent five, six or seven hours waiting at the border on Sunday evening with only a few border force officials processing their paperwork.
A worker in the immigration department at Heathrow, who asked not to be named, said the situation was chaotic. “It’s a mess. We cannot deploy without breaching health and safety measures. We are short staffed anyway. What are you meant to do?”
Staff at the border have also been told not to wear masks as they are processing passengers.
Heathrow Airport said: “When additional measures were implemented at the border, we were clear with the government that they must support the Border Force to ensure appropriate numbers of officials are on duty to minimise queuing in the Immigration Hall.
Conclusion
They should have a clear picture of the number of incoming passengers daily that need to be processed and documents checked. A mandatory hotel quarantine in place from select destinations makes the process much longer for some arrivals.
It shouldn’t be that difficult to know the exact number of border employees required to prevent these six to seven hour-long waits that are perfect for further spreading the Covid-19.
The piece from the BBC is worthwhile to read for anyone arriving in the UK shortly. Better be prepared for a long wait to clear the immigration.
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Sadly Heathrow immigration on arrival, particularly T5, is a shambles at the best of times. They are unpleasant, arrogant and often just rude. They are answerable to no one and complaints are treated with disdain. They take their lead from their political master with the current Home Secretary being both odious and thick, while a previous incumbent, May, created the hostile environment that they relish.
When compared to places like Singapore who put “death to drug traffickers” on land cards but staff are welcoming, charming, multi lingual and immaculate turned out and efficient,
By contrast the English equivalent is gruff, curt, dishevelled, lazy and monosyllabic. Ghastly people!
As an ex-Brit now carrying a US passport, the wait at LHR was normally 1 hour – exactly what no one wants after a direct flight from LAX. I can believe this shambles of a mess, it was never good in the best of times!!! As for the attitude, I’ve experienced this also – yes I was born in England, yes I’m carrying a US Passport, yes I’m visiting my sister…really??? Is any of this shocking? Shouldn’t be.
I believe the staffing issues stem from the decision to group Border Force staff into C-19 Bubbles to protect them. This means it is virtually impossible to increase staff if a higher volume of arrivals is noted.
This Bubble decision is obviously impractical and needs to be addressed quickly without compromising staff safety. Particularly as the British government is hell bent on lifting the lockdown IN A HURRY — in the hope of being ‘popular’ in time for countrywide local elections in the spring.
It is very clear from their panic and ultra positive propoganda right now that they are willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING for this short term popularity.
Why would anyone want to travel with all this hassle ?? Unless it’s life and death, no country in the world would be drawing me for tourist purposes. Surely all of these people aren’t traveling on business either. Good grief, give it up and stay home !!
Accept the principle: if what the government is doing doesn’t make sense to you, you do not understand the real agenda. Don’t follow the Judas Goat.
UK, US, AUS – used to be the countries I always wanted to visit, nowadays – hell bloody no
It is true that border control in both the UK and Australia are, to put it mildly, atrocious. Always have been, always will be. There are no incentives to change. Give someone a uniform, and they will use it to enforce their superiority over others.
However, before criticising others, Americans should try entering their own country as a foreigner and see how US border control treats people. You would be amazed at what we have to put up with and the way we are treated, especially at LAX.
Tourism authorities in the UK, US and AUS spend billions of dollars trying to attract visitors, and the border control staff trash that investment in seconds.
When what the government is doing doesn’t make sense to you, you do not understand the real agenda.
oops, I already said that. It remains true.
There was a time when that may have been true but I have always been treated well by US immigration, not something I can about my home!
Was it the Same at Both Terminals or Just T5
Heathrow has always been slow, it was not unusual if you did not have expedited passport control access for it to take over an hour. They do the most through questioning at passport control as it was and now with COVID I can see where it would be a nightmare. But 5-6 hours there is just no excuse for that. What happens if you have a driver picking you up? They certainly are not going to wait around for that long.