Holidaymakers warned of airport chaos because of hi-tech passport scanners

Sophisticated new laser passport scanners, introduced by the newly formed Border and Immigration Agency (BIA), are doubling the time it takes to process passengers arriving in the UK.

Although the busy holiday season is yet to get underway, longer queues than normal have already been reported at Stansted and Luton.

But with all airports in the UK scheduled to bring in the new scanning devices, there are fears the problem will spread to other airports when they get the new equipment.

The revamped scanning machinery, which is designed to read data in biometric passports, has been brought in by the Government to tighten immigration controls on all arrivals, including British and European passport holders.

With the arrivals hall at Stansted said to have been close to bursting this week because of the delays at immigration, John Tincey, vice-chairman of the Immigration Service Union, said: 'There is going to be chaos in the summer.

'It used to take between three to four seconds to process a passenger. Now you are looking at eight to 10 seconds, so it has more than doubled.

'At busy times this makes the situation impossible. Stansted is growing very quickly and our staffing was struggling to keep up even before the regime changed.

'Gatwick, Luton and Birmingham have also been badly hit because of the growth in low-cost airlines and they are all due to get this equipment soon.'

London's airports alone expect to handle more than 250,000 fliers a day over summer.

A spokesman for BAA, which runs seven of Britain's airports including Stansted, said: 'We have spent over £20million, recruited another 1,400 security staff and put another 21 checkpoints in place to handle passengers as they leave.

'But it is not our job to ensure their smooth entry into the country, that is down to the Border and Immigration Agency to provide enough staff.'

The BIA says it has record numbers of border control staff working and claims the new scanners will ensure criminals and illegal immigrants cannot enter the country.

Passengers can hardly expect better news on departure, with tough new security and hang-luggage rules introduced last summer still in place.

As of Tuesday, Britons travelling to Spain must now give more information about themselves as part of new anti-terror plans, a move expected to increase delays to what is the most popular destination for UK holidaymakers.

To add to the misery, staff shortages meant 6,000 cases were lost by British Airways at the weekend and had to be driven across Europe.

The shortages are expected to continue over the summer.