Edited By: Shankhyaneel Sarkar
Last Updated: December 24, 2022, 14:53 IST
An arrivals board displays a message warning users of terminal 5 about industrial action by Border Force staff, at Heathrow Airport, near London, Britain (Image: Reuters)
The passengers were relieved to find that British Army personnel were manning the desks
Uniformed British Army officers standing in for the striking 1,000 Border Force staff came to the rescue of travellers in the UK as the latter began the first of eight days of strikes.
Passengers were apprehensive that their travel plans would be upended due to the strikes as they waited in long queues in Europe’s busiest airport. Passengers speaking to the Guardian said they were anxious when they received warning messages of two-hour queues but found out that queues were much shorter.
The passengers said 90% of them were manned by army personnel in uniform.
But there are fears that the strikes will wreak havoc after Christmas as there will still be five more days left of the eight-day strike.
The Guardian reported that ministers took the step of asking uniformed army personnel to stand in for striking Border Force workers.
December 30 is expected to be a very busy day for UK airports.
Some passengers pointed out that the army personnel handling the operations were handling the processes smoothly and were ready in case of passport problems.
Well done to our magnificent British Army @BritishArmy for performing an absolutely sterling job at Heathrow airport. 🇬🇧🇬🇧— VansWearingTrucker (@JodySnrSktr) December 23, 2022
But some passengers faced travelling difficulties as their baggage were delayed, some even waiting for more than an hour.
Heathrow’s main airlines British Airways and Virgin Atlantic stopped the sale of tickets starting December 16 for arrivals on strike days and offered those who purchased tickets free of charge date changes.
The British Airways said that they were not experiencing significant delays to luggage or flights.
Heathrow airport spokespersons told the Guardian that the airport was functioning normally and queueing was minimal. They said that there were no flight cancellations despite the strikes despite reports warning that up to 30% of flights could be cancelled.
They said that nearly 30,000 passengers passed through the border and they experienced ‘virtually zero wait time’ and the immigration halls were ‘free-flowing’ and the military providing ‘good service.’
Earlier UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government is ready for talks with unions but admitted that public pay was a difficult issue to discuss when the UK is facing sky-high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.
“The government has acted fairly and reasonably in accepting all the recommendations of the independent public sector pay review bodies. In the long term it’s the right thing for the whole country that we beat inflation,” Sunak was quoted as saying by Sky News.
Read all the Latest News here