Extensive Covid checks are causing long queues at Heathrow Airport to become unmanageable.
Chief solutions officer at Heathrow, Chris Garton, has spoken to MPs on the transport committee about the situation. He claims that some travellers faced a wait if up to six hours. And police have had to intervene on numerous occasions because passengers don’t want to queue, especially for such long periods of time.
International travel is currently only allowed for specific reasons, and if it is essential.
All passengers, regardless of their nationality, must be vetted thoroughly before leaving or entering the UK. This is to ensure they comply with the law on coronavirus regulations.
At the moment, the airport sees around 10-15,000 people arrive every day. And over half of these are experiencing delays of more than 2-3 hours.
The current system is a “tremendous burden on officers at the border” and there are not enough of them. It is clear they need more resources. They will not be able to sustain much longer if things stay as they are now.
The queuing is also having a detrimental effect on the ability to strictly follow all Covid guidelines. Maintaining social distancing at the airport is difficult because it was not built to cater for so many people held up in queues.
Restarting International Travel
If rules on foreign travel are relaxed on 17 May, as per government plans, it is likely the problem will only get worse, as queues get bigger.
Last week, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said that people in England could start to think about booking summer holidays abroad.
However, the required Covid tests have received a lot of criticism from the travel industry. They say the cost needs to go down, otherwise it risks making travel far too expensive for many people.
The restart of foreign travel will see countries categorised into a traffic light system, grading them based on risk. Although all passengers will have to take Covid tests before departing and on arrival, even for low risk “green” destinations.
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