Systems error affecting electronic gates leaves travelers to UK waiting for hours

LONDON (AP) — Travelers arriving in the U.K. faced long delays Saturday after a technical problem shut electronic border gates at airports across the country for most of the day, forcing everyone to have their passports checked manually on what was expected to be one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

The Home Office, the government agency responsible for immigration and borders, said at 6 p.m. London time that all the electronic gates were working again. It provided no details about what caused the problem.

“Following a technical border system fault which affected e-Gate arrivals into the UK, we can confirm all e-Gates are now operating as normal,'' the Home Office said. “We thank those travelers who were impacted for their patience and staff for their work in resolving the issue.”

Earlier, airport operators had asked for patience and apologized for the delays as frustrated travelers took to social media to post photos of long lines at airports including Manchester in the north of England and London Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport. Travel is expected to be especially busy over the next few days as a three-day weekend coincides with the start of a weeklong holiday for most schools in Britain.

One of those affected was Marc Baret, a traveler from northern England. He told the BBC he had been booked on a flight from Chicago to Manchester via Heathrow, but the final leg of the flight was canceled. He sought to leave the airport to catch a train and ended up in a very long passport scrum.

“It was absolute chaos at passport control,'' he said. “There were people getting really frustrated and a couple of individuals tried to jump queues. The police had to get engaged and one of the passengers fainted.”

The problems, which began Friday night, come as U.K....