Travellers are trying to break Covid rules with forged doctor s notes which claim they need emergency surgery.
Immigration officers are uncovering multiple examples of fake letters designed to help passengers avoid paying for tests or fines under the regulations, the Mail can reveal. Forged letters have been uncovered which say the passenger s coming back for an emergency operation or other emergency treatment, said a borders source. When immigration officers phone up the doctors named on the letters, they don t know anything about it.
Under the current restrictions, anyone coming to the UK to attend urgent, non-pre-arranged treatment does not have to take a Covid test before travel, or on days two and eight after arrival.
MailOnline understands that complicated cases are taking 40 minutes rather than the expected four minutes
Only half of desks can be used in passport control at Heathrow because they only have front-facing screens
Heathrow chief solutions officer Chris Garton said the situation at the west London airport was untenable
Passengers are regularly waiting between two and six hours to get tested, he told MPs at a select committee
Mr Garton said the Home Office has not increased the number of border staff checking arrivals to Heathrow
Bosses of Heathrow Airport, British Airways and Jet2 expressed dismay at the completely avoidable queues
They called on Home Secretary to boost border guard numbers as there are often hardly any desks manned
The wider use of electronic passport gates would ensure hassle-free holidays once foreign travel resumes
It comes after a senior Heathrow official told MPs how more than half of arrivals are waiting two or three hours
One woman collapsed at a Heathrow passport control desk after waiting up to seven hours for her paperwork
Updated: 15 Apr 2021, 15:36
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A WOMAN collapsed at Heathrow after a 90-minute argument over hotel quarantine amid fears airport queues could last more than seven hours due to Covid checks.
The passenger was seen laying on the floor at the border control gate with a member of staff at her aid as checks on traveller s tests and quarantine plans create massive queues to get into the UK.
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People waited in long queues because of new Covid checksCredit: @maccageezer
Footage posted online on Monday afternoon shows the collapsed woman being tended to by staff - as many more passengers wait to be cleared through the border.