Last night, London’s Heathrow Airport was a mess, as passengers waited for 6 hours to pass through passport control without any commitment to social distancing measures.
The British newspaper “Daily Mail” mentioned that the congestion is caused by the presence of only two employees at the passport control, and they operate 10 offices.
The airport management blamed the delay on the Ministry of Interior due to the lack of staff, saying that the Border Force offices were not sufficiently equipped to deal with arrivals and conduct COVID-19 checks.
Passengers posted pictures of the chaos standing close to each other in a huge queue, describing it as moving “at a slower pace than the speed of a snail,” or “not moving at all.”
Some complained that they were forced to stand next to passengers from the Red List countries, who had to go to quarantine hotels, but they mixed with those who traveled from countries not on the list while they were waiting.
A spokesman for the airport said: “Border forces need to continue to maintain adequate resources and effective operations to prevent unacceptable waiting times.”
However, the Ministry of Interior strongly denied that only two employees of the border force were working, noting that the staff worked at different times to preserve social distancing, and that other offices were open to expatriates.
source: “Daily Mail”