Heathrow Airport Border Force staff 'cannot cope' with passport checks pressure

Queues: Staff 'cannot cope'
Mark Chandler25 July 2016

Stressed border staff “cannot cope” with the number of people arriving at Heathrow Airport for passport checks, it has been claimed.

A Border Force whistleblower told the BBC that problems had been caused by long-term sickness and a lack of time to thoroughly check documents due to huge queues.

The employee said: "We are being crucified. There is a high percentage of long term sick due to stress.

"We are being pushed completely and we cannot cope."

Some Border Force staff have started their shifts at Dover, where passengers have been facing massive queues in recent days, before being redeployed to help at Heathrow, the worker said.

The claim comes as new figures show Border Force missed its Heathrow targets of processing 95 per cent of non-EU passengers in under 45 minutes last month.

A Border Force spokesman told the BBC that they were doing all they could to minimise delays.

He said: "When very large amounts of passengers arrive in a short space of time, it can mean a longer wait while essential border security checks are conducted."

The Home Office told the Corporation that security was not being compromised by redeploying staff from Dover.

A spokesman said: “Border Force has been set up to be agile, flexible and intelligence-led, deploying quickly according to need and responding to a variety of demands."

Last week, Heathrow passengers faced delays thanks to a check-in glitch at Terminal 5, while a fault at Terminal 3 meant some holidaymakers had to leave their suitcases behind.

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