A call for “robust contingency plans” to be in place to avoid passenger disruption has been made following the mass e-gate failure at UK airports.
Thousands of passengers faced hours of queues when arriving in the UK on Tuesday evening after a technology outage.
It was the third time in three years that there have been technology problems with e-gates, according to the Immigration Services Union.
Advantage Travel Partnership chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said said that there “needs to be sufficient investment in the technologies used in travel to ensure that these systems run smoothly”.
She said: “Travel is increasingly reliant on technology with the use of systems designed to speed up previously sluggish processes such as manual checks at passport control.
“E-gates enable the UK to improve border control as they allow for a smooth, much faster border experience, where incoming international travellers are required to scan their passports and have their biometric information read which confirms their identity.
“However, the incidents with ePassport gates at UK airports highlights the fact that if we are to rely heavily on technology, there needs to be sufficient investment in the technologies used in travel to ensure that these systems run smoothly and robust contingency plans in place to avoid any unnecessary disruption to travellers.”
Lord Foster, who chairs the Lords Justice and Home Affairs committee, described the nationwide failure of e-gates as “deeply concerning, adding: “Technology invariably fails, but the e-gates systems have experienced a number of problems recently.”
The last major e-gate outage was around the late May bank holiday in 2023.
Lord Foster said that Border Force staff need to be “equipped and trained to deal with such situations”.
He added that “resilience in our systems is essential” given the UK is preparing to introduce the new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), a permit which non-British and non-Irish citizens who do not require a visa will generally need to enter the UK.
“The government must get the fundamentals right – and it must be prepared to learn the appropriate lessons when things go wrong,” Lord Foster said.