Many Britons are already tired of hearing about the Olympics, we must all admit. The cost, the organisation, even the heightened security – by this stage, a lot of people are admitting looking forward to the Games simply because it means the end is in sight. However, one aspect of this summer’s extravaganza still has everyone from the transport secretary to the average commercial property worker very much on edge – the difficulty of transporting London citizens, as well as hundreds of thousands of tourists, across the city without causing mass queuing and delays in getting to work.
Well, if commercial property Heathrow Airport is anything to go by, people are right to be concerned.
Huge queues built up on Tuesday 10th July as half of all immigration desks at the commercial property arrivals building were closed, with non-EU passengers being forced to wait up to 56 minutes before passing through customs. The target for commercial property staff was 45 minutes, so the waiting time does not seem so bad when next to that – however, Heathrow has not yet hit the peak of summer air traffic.
With only a couple of weeks left until the Olympic Games begin in London, huge volumes of passengers are expected to flood the UK’s largest airport commercial property over the next few months, perhaps pushing an already famously struggling immigration system to its limits. Additionally, with the commencement of the English school holidays, families will be travelling to the airport to go away on summer holidays, and of course will be returning expecting a speedy turnover at passport control. Yet if Heathrow immigration officials are unable to cope with a relatively quiet Tuesday flow of passengers efficiently, the question of how exactly they plan to keep queues moving with additional flights and hundreds of daily arrivals must be asked.
Labour MP Keith Vaz visited the airport commercial property at 7am on the day in question to see for himself how London would cope with the impending Olympics influx, and claimed to be shocked at the length of queues that had already built up.
He also highlighted that contingency plans for the Olympics were released in April. 550 volunteers are to be drafted in to the airport commercial property to assist immigration officers throughout the period of the Olympic Games, yet they will receive only four days training before working with the public, and as yet have not been on hand at Heathrow.
He said; “I was appalled by the length of queues in the immigration hall this morning.
“It is now two months since the Immigration Minister promised additional resources and better management. The worst aspect was that half of the immigration desks were simply not opened even though the Border Force had prior knowledge of all flight arrivals.
“This creates additional security pressures with luggage piling up in the baggage hall. We look forward to hearing the Immigration Minister’s explanation for this.”
The current UK Government have been plagued with transportation issues recently, especially in the aviation industry. Labour took full advantage of this fact in April when they published leaked figures showing that, in the past two years, 800 Border Force workers have been made redundant, with a further 700 positions due to be cut by 2015.
Yet a Border Force spokesperson was quick to refute Mr Vaz’s claims, stating that Border Force representatives at the airport commercial property were working to full efficiency at all times during that day.
He said; “Queues at Terminal 4 remained under an hour at all times.
“Staff were quickly redeployed and more than 80 per cent of desks were open to process passengers as quickly as possible.”
It is estimated that 13th August will be the busiest day for Heathrow, with 137,800 passengers and 200,000 items of luggage passing through the commercial property on that day alone.
Airport operator BAA insist that the Home Office is solely responsible for queuing times at arrivals and that it is important for passengers to experience a welcoming and efficient service upon arrival at the airport commercial property.
A spokesman said; “Immigration waiting times for passengers during peak periods at Heathrow in the last few days have been unacceptably long and the Home Office should be delivering a good experience for regular passengers as well as for Olympic visitors.
“Immigration is a matter for the Home Office – the Home Office has said that from July 15 all Border Force desks at Heathrow will be open during peak Olympic arrival periods.”
Do you think Border Force will be able to cope with the influx of visitors to Heathrow airport during the Olympics? Or do you believe that queues are set to get even longer at the commercial property?
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