BA has backlog of 22,000 bags at Heathrow

The UK's largest carrier does not have enough baggage handlers to cope with the summer peak.

The situation is so serious that BA has drafted in its own office workers who "volunteered" to help out, along with staff from an outside agency.

It is hiring new staff but the security vetting process takes weeks or months and they will not all be in place for the holiday period. With a continuing state of high alert and increased security at all airports, particularly Heathrow, industry insiders predict a summer of chaos and delays.

There are warnings of an ever-increasing mountain of luggage belonging to travellers whose aircraft have taken off before it is loaded. It could be days, or even weeks, before bags now at Heathrow are reunited with their owners.

BA is holding crisis talks with the unions today in an effort to ease growing unrest among exhausted baggage handlers who have refused to work overtime. There is so much luggage that much of it is being stored in an emergency marquee.

Union chiefs blamed BA for cutting too many staff to save money. Others have been switched to training sessions at the new Terminal 5 which opens next year.

Ed Blissett, national officer for civil aviation of the GMB union, said: "BA has made all these cuts and changes, now if anything goes wrong, such as last week's security increase, they can't cope. The fact the company has now been forced to appeal to its its own office staff to help out is proof of our claim that there are not enough permanent handlers."

Mr Blissett said he was "concerned" about the use of outside agency workers who may not have been subject to the full criminal record checking procedure which permanent staff go through. "We just don't know and that is just one of the questions I will be asking today,î he said.

A senior union source said: "At the moment there is something in the region of 22,000 items of luggage still to be returned to owners."

A BA spokeswoman refused to say how many items of "lost" luggage remained at Heathrow. "We have office volunteers and third-party staff working to clear the backlog," she said. She was unable to say how long it would take to clear, adding: "We are hoping it won't be much longer."

BA began looking for 345 extra temporary baggage handlers this year - but admitted "delaysî in getting them security clearance. "We are making up the shortfall with volunteers," she said.

The spokeswoman confirmed that a 20,000 item backlog of luggage had built in the wake of increased security following the Glasgow car bomb last Saturday week.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week warned that travellers would face months of disruption because of increased security.