Tempers boil over at Stansted as 5,000 people forced to queue for passport control at midnight
Travellers heading into London slammed their unhappiness at being forced to wait for passport control, saying it had ruined their holiday
MORE than 5000 travellers were forced to queue for passport control at London Stansted airport last night.
The airport was accused of ruining holidays as the huge numbers of travellers bottle-necked at passport control, with holiday-makers saying they were forced to wait past midnight as they tried to get home.
Jemma Ralton, 28, said her weekend away to Marseilles had been spoiled when faced with a “sea of people” pushing and shoving to get through passport control last night.
Flying into Stansted Airport with Ryan Air just before midnight, the last thing that the 28-year-old was expecting was a crowd of thousands trying to get through the airport.
She told The Sun Online: “You couldn’t even get into the hall where passport control was, it wasn’t clear as there were thousands of people.
"No one knew where to go because there were so many people blocking entrances and signs.
"It was just carnage."
She said the crowd eventually managed to reach the start of the queue – where they were directed into lanes to have their passports checked.
She said: "We asked the lady what the hold up was and she said the queues not that bad when you get into it, we just can’t get people into the right queues – but that clearly wasn’t true because we still had to queue for ages.”
Describing the crowd as “frustrated”, the young traveller said several of the e-gates checking passports were closed off, meaning the thousands of people bottle-necked into a reduced number of lanes.
The tired traveller said she normally chose to fly home to Stansted Airport as it was a convenient but Monday night’s delays meant she missed her last train and that she only got home at 3am.
Jemma told The Sun Online: “I’m concerned because I have another mini-break booked in a couple of weeks and it gets back at a similar time – I’m thinking, do I just make alternative arrangements?
"You have a nice relaxing holiday and then you get home late, don’t get enough sleep and start your week stressed and tired.”
She said: "I appreciate the need for having checks at passport control but it’s just frustrating when it seems like they haven’t even prepared themselves for the crowds.”
that children were reduced to tears during the huge wait.
It is understood that Monday night is often one of the busiest for airports with many returning home from long weekends after making the most of low-cost airlines.
Travellers slammed the airport, which is the fourth busiest airport in Britain, taking to social media to call the huge wait "a joke".
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Another traveller, Jess Brittain-George, wrote: "Thanks for ruining our holiday with a 1h10min wait for border control. Your staff say it's "always" like this. GET MORE STAFF!"
Others said that the airport was "incapable of operating efficiently".
Another traveller said that he had been told the queue had been caused by "high volume".
Just under 39,000 travellers arrived at Stansted Airport on Monday, with the airport handling about 17.5 million passengers a year.
A Stanstead Airport spokesperson said: "The level of service provided by Border Force at immigration was well below the standard we expect for our passengers.
"We have asked Border Force to explain why this was the case, in particular to set out the reasons why so many desks were unmanned and e-gates closed during the peak arrival period."
Continuing, the spokesperson said: "Stansted Airport staff proactively helped manage the queues to ensure passenger safety at all times but we are very disappointed about the negative impact on our customers at the border last night"
The Home Office, which is responsible for the UK border, also released a statement, apologising for the inconvenience.
In a statement issued to the Sun Online, the spokesperson said: "The security of our border is paramount – which is why 100 per cent of scheduled passengers are checked when arriving in the UK.
"During the two hour period in question, all passengers in the European Economic Area queues were dealt with within our agreed 25 minute service standard.
"The longest queue recorded for non-EEA passengers was four minutes longer than the service standard.
"On occasions, when multiple flights land at the same time, large amounts of passengers can arrive at the border in a short space of time, meaning a longer wait while essential security checks are conducted.”
The spokesperson said that all available resources are deployed to ensure passengers are seen quickly while also maintaining safe borders.
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