Back-up teams have been drafted in at the UK’s main airports to cope with strikes by border control staff today.
Volunteer relief staff have been brought in to help alleviate possible disruption by the industrial action, which is part of a public sector strike across Britain involving 400,000 people.
According to the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union, the 24-hour strike is also likely to have a knock-on effect into tomorrow (Friday) morning.
The PCS represent 13,000 people working at immigration desks at the UK’s ports and airports. Members of the Immigration Services Union, which represents 4,500 border guards, are also taking part in today’s strike.
Heathrow Airport said it was satisfied there would be enough volunteers to prevent any major impact.
Gatwick said contingency measures in place would ensure in-bound passengers pass through immigration with as minimal disruption as possible.
"Gatwick is operating a normal flight schedule today and, at present, passengers are passing through immigration as normal without delays," said a spokesman.
"We will continue provide updates to our passengers throughout the day so they are kept informed of the situation."
The walk-out comes as a damning report was published today about the lack of staff and planning at Heathrow’s border controls.
The report by John Vine, chief inspector of borders and immigration, said there were not enough staff at peak times at passport checks in Terminal 3.
Based on data collected between August and November last year, the report said border staff were unable to "maintain effective and efficient controls".
The number of UK Border Agency staff at Terminal 3 fell by 15% in a year and changes to rotas meant some went off duty at the start of busy periods.
Vine told BBC’s Radio 4 programme: "I remain concerned that this lack of planning has affected the agency’s ability to maintain an effective and efficient border control."
His report found queue targets for passengers arriving from outside the European Economic Area were breached 62 times between 18 and 30 September last year, with some people having to wait two hours and 15 minutes.
Immigration Minister Damian Green said the report covers a period of reorganisation but these issues have now been tackled and there are now more staff at peak times.
But that did not stop a row emerging over recent queues at Heathrow (see Travelmole’s previous stories – .
Minister blames weather for airport queues and Immigration minister is lying, says travel industry).
The Government has pledged to deal with the delays ahead of this summer’s Olympics.
by Bev Fearis
