On the evening of 7 May 2024, electronic passport gates failed across the United Kingdom. At Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Manchester, Edinburgh and other airports, passengers who would normally pass through automated checks were redirected to staffed desks, producing long arrival-hall queues.
The Home Office said there was no security concern or malicious cyberattack, but some travellers reportedly waited more than three hours. A process normally completed by a passport scan became limited by the number of available officers. The queues exposed a basic fact about an automated border: when the machinery stops, its full passenger load still has to be absorbed by people.