LONDON (REUTERS) - London's Heathrow and Gatwick, Britain's busiest airports, said on Friday (Sept 24) that the e-gates used to control entry into the country had stopped working due to a systems failure that was affecting multiple ports of entry into Britain.

One passenger at Heathrow said it was chaos in the terminal, with space to queue rapidly running out.

The e-gates are staffed and operated by Britain's Border Force, a department of the interior ministry.

"Our teams are working with Border Force to find a solution as quickly as possible," Heathrow said on Twitter.

The problem was later resolved, after causing huge queues at airports.

"This afternoon a technical issue affected e-gates at a number of ports. The issue was quickly identified and has now been resolved," a Home Office spokesman said.

"We have been working hard to minimise disruption, and apologise to all passengers for the inconvenience caused."

Passengers at Heathrow had already endured lengthy queues this summer as staff struggled to process Covid-19 documentation in addition to passports and visas.