Waits in border queues at Heathrow Airport stretch up to six hours, it was claimed, causing travel misery for 10,000 passengers a day.
Britain's busiest airport is struggling with increasing passenger numbers and a shortage of border staff, leading to what one expert said were "untenable delays".
A traveller told The National he was forced to queue for six hours with minimal social distancing after arriving at Heathrow this week.
Joao Rocha said passengers were put at risk of coronavirus infection because of long waiting times and lack of ventilation.
In hotel quarantine, Mr Rocha said the scenes at Heathrow on April 11 were shambolic and left him feeling angry and upset.
"Everybody, it doesn't matter where they were from, we were standing stand very close to each other," he said.
Mr Rocha, a British citizen who runs his florist business in central London, returned to the UK from Brazil where he looked after his father, who has dementia.
He says there were only three Border Force officers to process more than 200 arrivals, many of whom had come from red-list countries with an elevated infection risk.
Pictures posted to Twitter by Mr Rocha show long, zig-zagging lines with passengers separated by just a thin barrier.
Heathrow responded to the tweet by saying social distancing was not always possible at every point of the airport journey.
It also called on the government to address the "unacceptable delays" at border control.
On Wednesday, Heathrow's chief solutions officer Chris Garton demanded that the government introduce quicker checks to help deal with the delays.
“We need to see a dramatic improvement in border performance if we are to increase passenger numbers travelling through Heathrow,” he told a parliamentary transport committee.
"The situation is becoming untenable."
Mr Rocha said the atmosphere at border control was tense and some Border Force officers did not wear masks, contravening government guidelines.
Staff took about 10 to 15 minutes to process each passenger because they must check Covid test results and whether the travellers are required to stay in hotel quarantine.
At one stage, a member of staff reportedly began to shout at agitated passengers and had to be removed by police to calm the atmosphere.
Mr Rocha said the staff member said masks did not work when asked why she was not wearing one.
"At some point I thought there would be some sort of fight or an argument," he said.
"It was really really, busy. I understand that staff are frustrated. I truly believe most of the people who were travelling had a really good reason to do so."
Mr Rocha said he sympathised with the pressures on border employees, but was led to feel that staff "didn't care" about passengers.
"I'm just really angry and frustrated, and actually the word is probably embarrassed," he said. "It was a total shambles."
Holidays abroad are banned by the government until May 17 at the earliest.
But under its new traffic-light system, travel to low-risk green countries could become quarantine-free after that date.
Some travel executives, however, voiced concerns over the requirement for passengers to red or amber countries to take two PCR tests – one before departure and another a day or two after their return to England.
The Association of British Travel Agents chief executive Mark Tanzer said the plan for reopening foreign travel was overcautious.
"Certainly for the green category, the PCR test is a sledgehammer to crack a nut," Mr Tanzer told the House of Commons transport committee.
"We'd like to have no testing but in the short term a cheaper, faster test, and if that were positive then you can proceed to a PCR test if necessary.
"Otherwise you are going to hobble the industry and you are going to stop people from travelling, even though they've been vaccinated."
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
More coverage from the Future Forum
RESULT
Bayern Munich 0 AC Milan 4
Milan: Kessie (14'), Cutrone (25', 43'), Calhanoglu (85')
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Sebastian Stefan, Sebastian Morar and Claudia Pacurar
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2014
Number of employees: 36
Sector: Logistics
Raised: $2.5 million
Investors: DP World, Prime Venture Partners and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 258hp from 5,000-6,500rpm
Torque: 400Nm from 1,550-4,000rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.1L/100km
Price: from Dh362,500
On sale: now
Race card for Super Saturday
4pm: Al Bastakiya Listed US$250,000 (Dh918,125) (Dirt) 1,900m.
4.35pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 $200,000 (D) 1,200m.
5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Conditions $200,000 (Turf) 1,200m.
5.45pm: Burj Nahaar Group 3 $200,000 (D) 1,600m.
6.20pm: Jebel Hatta Group 1 $300,000 (T) 1,800m.
6.55pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round 3 Group 1 $400,000 (D) 2,000m.
7.30pm: Dubai City of Gold Group 2 $250,000 (T) 2,410m.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
The years Ramadan fell in May
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