Kevin Saunders says there’s ‘not enough staff’ in Border Force

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People described being forced to wait in line for up to two hours on Sunday night with images circulating on social media appearing to show hundreds of frustrated passengers desperate to get through passport control. Labour MP Liam Byrne, who was at the airport, said the situation was “complete chaos”.

The Birmingham Hodge Hill MP tweeted: “Complete chaos at Stansted Airport Border Control at midnight Sunday.

“Staff with no idea what’s going on. No information to passengers. [No one] empowered to bring order. Not only dangerous but shameful.”

He added: “The 45 mins in the first crowd is just the warm up… I endured the same 90 minutes as everyone else.

“But staff I chatted to said it’s now up to 2 hours and the situation has become ‘completely unacceptable’.”

He went on to criticise customer feedback forms, saying there was no place for customers to fill anything in.

A fellow Twitter user raged: “Caught in that chaos for 75 mins. Hundreds of people crowded together.

“Finally got to passport control and of 30 or so E-passport machines only a handful actually active.

“Mine failed 3 times (no reason) then sent to manual Border Control and straight out. No apology.”

READ MORE ABOUT THE UK HEADING FOR A ‘DISASTER BEYOND IMAGINATION’

To which London Stansted replied: “We’re very sorry to hear this! We’re sharing all feedback with Home Office’s Border Force, who manage the Immigration process, & we will be working with them to ensure that passengers enjoy the best possible experience going forward. Thank you for your patience.”

Another Twitter user complained: “This evening at Stansted Airport half of the machines not working.

“No crowd management systems in place. There are no announcements made to keep people updated.

“They should not be letting so many flights touch down given the known passport check issues.”

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Express.co.uk has contacted Stansted Airport for comment.

The Government insisted it is aware of the situation on Sunday, but does not recognise the waiting times reported by passengers.

Officials are reportedly working closely with Border Force and the airport authorities to find out why crowds formed.

The Home Office insists waiting times are not solely down to resources and that Border Force’s time is used wisely, carrying out not only essential checks to secure the UK’s borders but also safeguarding individuals.

Sunday night is a notoriously busy time for London’s airports as passengers return from weekend trips.

The reports of overcrowding come as more than £12million is being invested by the airport and retailers to improve the customer experience at the travel hub.

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It forms part of efforts by Stansted to prepare for an expected increase in passenger numbers this summer after two years of disruption from COVID-19.

A major recruitment drive is also underway with most of the vacancies for security officers, according to the airport.

Stansted is London’s third airport with more than 27 million passengers each year, it reports.

It has the most European destinations of any airport in the UK and the second-most in Europe behind Munich.

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