The potential for future delays at Heathrow Airport have struck fear into the hearts of Olympic Games organisers.
Recent delays for non-EU passport holders meant that passengers faced waiting times up to 70 minutes in Terminal 5 to gain entry to the country.
Those in other terminals experienced delays of nearly an hour before even reaching border control.
The latest wave of fresh queues at London’s busiest airport mean that even Brits and EU passport holders have had to wait at least 20 minutes before getting into the country.
With all that time on their hands, angry passengers turned to Twitter to vent their rage.
Disgruntled passenger Steve Bray tweeted: “Arrived into Heathrow Airport T5. Chaos at Border Control, ridiculous queues and long delays. Lord knows how they’ll cope during the Olympics.”
With the countdown to the Olympics currently well underway, there are genuine fears that the airport might not be able to handle the sheer volume of passengers flooding into the city.
On 26th July, the airport expects to see around 138,000 arrivals through the gates and claim they will have extra resources on hand to deal with the pressure.
This has been predicted to be the busiest day of the Games, with almost double the normal daily average of 95,000 people expected.
Those who were caught in the recent flurry of queues included some notable Formula 1 teams and Mary Beard, a television historian.
To avoid what could be a national embarrassment, Heathrow Airport is calling on the government to scrap plans to cut immigration officers, arguing that passengers could face even longer delays as a result.
The aviation industry has expressed genuine fears that there will not be enough immigration officers to cope with the Games.
In addition to cuts, there remains the possibility of immigration officers going on holiday during the Olympics as well.
(Images: chrislee-cm)
