Staff shortage means longer wait at Gatwick this summer
23.04.08
Passengers at Gatwick Airport face longer delays this summer because of a lack of immigration staff. Independent watchdog the Gatwick Airport Consultative Committee (Gatcom) has called on the Home Office to provide more staff to ease congestion.
Tougher security checks on EU passengers and the introduction of new passport scanning technology means it takes longer for staff to process passengers coming into the country. Holidaymakers currently face waits of up to an hour when returning to the airport to get through the passport check. But this looks set to increase because of a shortage of Home Office-funded immigration staff at the airport.
Dr John Godfrey, chairman of Gatcom, wrote to immigration minister Liam Byrne in November about the problem and has yet to receive a reply. He said: ‘It is a big issue for Gatwick. We have had meetings with the local representatives of the immigration service at the airport and we understand the difficulties they are facing.'
‘The problem is that the Government has made the requirements for examining passports of EU citizens tougher and it takes longer for everybody to get through immigration. At the same time there has been no increase in the number of immigration officers at the airport. In fact, there has been some decreases.’
Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
To book gatwick hotels or gatwick parking at the lowest price, click on these links to two great gatwick parking and gatwick hotels price comparison pages.
