Spot checks cause quarter-mile queues at Heathrow Airport

Passengers landing at Heathrow Airport in London faced queues stretching a quarter of a mile at the weekend as officials carried out spot checks on travel documents.

Travellers complained on Twitter that bottlenecks caused lines “stretching the full length of Heathrow Terminal 5” on Sunday.

The delays occurred the day before the UK loosened its travel rules to allow passengers fully vaccinated in the US and EU to avoid quarantine in the UK.

Millions of tourists are expected to take advantage of the changes, with quarantine-free deals expected to be agreed with other countries in coming months.

Passengers criticised the current arrangements at the airport as inadequate, raising questions over whether Border Force officials could handle a large surge in arrivals.

Carmen Ogilvie posted a video of waiting travellers, asking: “Ridiculous queues for immigration at Heathrow Airport. Is this the new normal?

“What's the point of all these safety measures if this is our arrivals?”

Tom Kibasi, who was also caught up in the delays, said the snaking queues were the equivalent to about a quarter of a mile.

When Heathrow Airport informed him that the queues were because of spot checks from customs officers, he replied: “Great job! I’m sure there are so many benefits from spot checks that they surely outweigh the Covid-19 risk of confining thousands of people in the same space for an extended period!”

The airport said that queues had “on occasion been unacceptable” but said the spot checks were required by the UK government.

Authorities recently changed travel rules to require airlines to check passenger documents before boarding, meaning fewer checks are carried out by Border Force workers at the gate. While officers no longer need to inspect every form, spot checks still take place to ensure passengers and carriers are complying.

“Our teams in the terminals are on hand to support where possible and we are working with Border Force to reduce delays as soon as possible,” Heathrow Airport said.

“Waiting times at the border have on occasion been unacceptable and we have called on the UK Government to address the problem as a matter of urgency.”

A report in The Times claimed the Border Force was hit by a wave of absences at the weekend, with about 80 of the force's 300-strong staff off with coronavirus.

It said dozens more were forced to isolate because they had been in close contact with one or more of them.

The Home Office said last month passengers should expect longer queues during the pandemic.

“Our utmost priority is protecting the health of the public and our enhanced borders regime is helping reduce the risk of new variants being transmitted,” a spokeswoman said.

“That means, for the time being, passengers will need to accept an increase in the time taken at each stage of their journey.”

Last month, passengers at Heathrow were forced to queue for hours at departure gates after more than 100 staff received a coronavirus alert telling them to self-isolate.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?

The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.

Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.

“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.

The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.

The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.

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3^rd ODI, Sunday, April 14

4^th ODI, Tuesday, April 16

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