A Government inspector has slammed the Home Office for the chaos caused to travellers by eGates.
David Neal blamed staff cuts, poor training and Covid rule changes for long queues and bust-ups at ports and airports.
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration was also highly critical that the report he submitted in June has only just been released.
There are 263 of the gates in the UK, including 69 at Heathrow, 50 at Gatwick and 30 at Stansted.
They are operated by the Border Force – part of the Home Office – whose staff say cuts in their numbers led to “mayhem”, with queues of up to five hours and abuse thrown at workers last year.
Mr Neal said the gates also made it harder to identify vulnerable passengers like child slaves.
Mr Neal made 15 recommendations of which 14 were accepted or partially accepted.
A Home Office source said eGates had been updated to “improve security and efficiency”.
The Home Office added: “We are committed to making further improvements and ePassport Gate technology continues to be part of the overall strategy to make our border as efficient, smart, and responsive as possible.”
