UK travel chaos set to continue for A YEAR thanks to staff shortages
BRITS are being warned that the ongoing travel chaos could continue for the next YEAR due to staff shortages.
Holidaymakers have faced five-hour queues, cancelled flights and long delays as many attempted to leave the UK during the Easter break.
Airports up and down Britain have been experiencing major staffing issues due to a surge in demand from people wanting to travel abroad after the pandemic - as well as Covid-related absences.
But they are having difficulty finding recruits and having their security checks processed.
Kully Sandhu, the managing director of the Aviation Recruitment Network warned it could take "at least the next 12 months for the industry, vacancy wise, to settle down".
He said it wasn't just Covid causing problems in hiring new staff, of which he said there were more than 300 vacancies across UK airports, but also Brexit.
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He told the BBC: “Brexit has not helped because we had a natural attraction of individuals from the European market who would apply for vacancies in UK airports.
"We no longer have that talent pool, and we are relying on individuals in the UK.
Lucy Moreton, general secretary for the ISU which represents Border Force, said it was the "first time in living memory" that they couldn't hire enough candidates for the vacancies, adding they were "catastrophically understaffed" for the Easter break.
She told the BBC: "Combined with the fact it takes nearly a year to fully train a Border Force officer, going into not just this summer, this weekend, catastrophically understaffed, with people beginning to travel again, and of course those that went out earlier this week will be coming back by the middle of next week, the school holidays having finished."
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She warned that this mean queues will not only continue, but will also affect Brits both leaving and entering the country.
An industry source previously told vetting usually takes 14 to 15 weeks - but accused the government of failing to provide the resources to cope with extra demand, making the process "cripplingly slow".
Long queues have continued to plague a number of UK airports today, with passengers extending out into the car park at Manchester Airport.
Last week, one woman even missed her flights due to the huge queues at Manchester Airport, losing her £1,500 dream holiday.
Travellers at Birmingham Airport also waited as long as 90 minutes to get through security this morning.
One person tweeted: "Queues at Birmingham airport for security. Been here half an hour and still can’t even see the security area. Absolute shambles."
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And tens of thousands of Brits have been forced to pay extra when arriving at the airport, after not realising they still need Covid tests for their holiday destination.
A security expert has revealed how you can tell if your queue will be long when going through airport security.
