Passengers at Stansted Airport faced 'unacceptabe' delays

PASSENGERS at Stansted Airport faced “unacceptably long” immigration queues at the beginning of the Bank Holiday weekend.

Hundreds of disgruntled passengers were delayed for up to two hours at passport control at the Essex airport yesterday evening.

A spokesman for Stansted airport said action was needed to address the issue of long waits urgently.

He said: “The majority of passengers arriving at Stansted pass through border controls quickly and securely. However, at peak times, and similar to many other UK airports, immigration queues can be unacceptably long.

“We recognise that maintaining strong border security is a priority but we also want to see sufficient resources available to meet passenger demand and keep delays to a minimum at the busiest times.

“Our customer service teams work closely with the UK Border Force to help manage queues and assist passengers at peak times but we believe further action is needed to address the issue as a matter of urgency.”

Passenger Sophie Elliot expressed her frustration throguh social networking website Twitter,

“Last night at Stansted we were trapped in queues of over an hour - longer for the people behind us - cos ‘a few planes landed early’,” she posted.

A Border Force spokesman said: “We flexibly deploy staff to meet demand, meaning that the vast majority of passengers pass through immigration controls quickly.

“We will not compromise border security but work closely with airport operators to keep delays to a minimum.”

The Government has already admitted there is a “problem” with delays at passport control at Heathrow airport.