The Home Office announced on Saturday that the automated border control gates in Britain are now operating normally, following a nationwide system malfunction that caused significant

delays.

Earlier, social media posts depicted long queues of frustrated passengers at London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports, with hundreds of people having to endure hours of waiting.

"We can confirm all e-gates are now operating as normal, following a technical border system fault which affected e-gate arrivals into the UK," stated Britain's interior ministry in a Twitter update.

The ministry expressed gratitude to the affected travelers for their patience and acknowledged the efforts of the staff in resolving the issue.

While certain foreign visitors are required to interact with a border control officer upon arrival in Britain, others, including British, EU, and U.S. citizens, have the option to utilize the automated gates, also known as e-gates, to scan their passports and enter the country.

Due to the malfunction of the e-gates during a period of increased travel activity in Britain, with a spring bank holiday on Monday and a school break next week, all passengers had to go through manual checkpoints for processing.

Over the past year, British airlines and airports have faced various disruptions, including strikes involving airport staff and Border Force workers, as well as flight cancellations due to staff shortages during the previous summer. Photo by Steve Cadman, Wikimedia commons.