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E-gates at airports across the UK are back up and running again, the Home Office has announced.

It said there was "no indication of malicious cyber activity".

鈥淓-gates at UK airports came back online shortly after midnight," the department said.

"As soon as engineers detected a wider system network issue at 19:44pm last night, a large-scale contingency response was activated within six minutes.

"At no point was border security compromised and there is no indication of malicious cyber activity.

"We apologise to travellers caught up in disruption and thank our partners, including airlines for their cooperation and support."

The UK Border Force is continuing to experience a "nationwide issue" affecting e-gates at UK airports, British Airways has said.

"The issue has caused long queues at airports, creating severe disruption," a spokesperson said.

"Border force has told us it has opened all available passport control desks and has asked its staff to stay on to help as many customers as possible.

"Our teams are out in the terminal assisting customers, alongside colleagues from the airport."

The spokesperson added: "We understand this is an incredibly frustrating experience and are grateful to our customers for their patience and understanding.

"We are doing everything we can to get our customers to where they need to be, as soon as possible."

E-gates at Heathrow Airport are working again, the airport has confirmed, adding it does not anticipate any issues in the morning.

A spokesperson said: "All Border Force systems are now running as usual at Heathrow.

"We do not expect any issues this morning when the operation starts up."

Passengers stuck on planes at Stansted Airport are "tired and upset", one traveller has messaged Sky News to say.

After their flight from Rome landed at the airport they were told they could not disembark because of "huge queues" at passport control.

They said the pilot told them "he has not been given any time frame".

"Hopeless situation," they added. "People are tired and upset. Some of us have work tomorrow morning."

Passengers at Stansted Airport have told Sky News they have been stuck queuing for nearly three hours due to the nationwide issue with e-gates at airports.

"There's going to be people needing help here," one traveller at the airport said. They said they had been waiting "nearly three hours" and staff had been handing out water bottles.

Another said they had been in the line for two hours and a half.

"The queue is moving and the guy giving out water said the wait is shorter than ever," another told Sky News.

One person who arrived at Heathrow Airport said it was "pandemonium" when they got to passport control in Terminal 3.

Sam Morter, 32, said all of the e-gates had blank screens.

Mr Morter, who had arrived from Sri Lanka, told the Press Association: "There was a lot of Border Force officials running and scrambling around. Four or five went to man the posts and start processing the UK passports manually.

"But at the same time, hundreds of passengers started to flood into passport control, so it all of a sudden became chaotic and they couldn't cope with the number of the people coming in."

Mr Morter said passengers were frustrated with their situation but also felt for those who had recently landed from long-haul flights.

"A lot of disgruntled, angry and frustrated passengers and people coming off of long-haul flights very tired, so that didn't help. Not great scenes," he said.

He added passengers "weren't given any information" and airport staff handed cans of water to those waiting in line.

"Staff were giving out cans of water because they knew people were going to be there a long time. I was there for an hour-and-a-half. I was towards the front of the queue, there were hundreds behind me that were waiting a lot longer." 

One passenger told Sky News they were held on their plane at Stansted Airport for around an hour and a half after landing due to the e-gates issue.

"We weren't told much other than the e-gates were down but had no idea how long it would take," they said.

"After that not much was said other than we couldn't disembark till the other five planes ahead of us did."

Have you been affected by the issues at airports across the UK?

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Passengers affected by the disruption at airports across the country have contacted Sky News to describe the long lines they experienced.

One passenger at Stansted Airport said they had missed several coaches to central London because of the issues. In total they waited two hours and 50 minutes after landing.

"Not much info given. No water handed out. Babies crying," they said.

Another at Stansted Airport said they were left waiting outside the entrance to the airport in the "cold" and "with a baby".

"Very poor organisation," they said. "Nobody told us anything."

A passenger at Heathrow Airport said they were "hot and tired" but had been given water by staff.

Another caught in the queues at London Southend Airport said Border Force officers told them there was "chaos" at other UK airports too.

Another said they were "stuck" at Stansted Airport and had been queueing for at least an hour.

A passenger at Luton Airport said it took around 80 minutes from exiting their easyJet flight from Amsterdam to get through border control.

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A passenger who waited almost an hour after landing at Gatwick Airport has bemoaned "another British infrastructure failing".

Paul Curievici, from Haslemere in Surrey, landed around 7.30pm on a flight from Lyon and waited in line for almost an hour at passport control.

The 41-year-old told the PA news agency: "[I was] a little bit resigned at what initially looked like another British infrastructure failing, and [I had] quite a lot of sympathy for the poor buggers furrowing their brows and trying not to look embarrassed."

Mr Curievici said the e-gates at Gatwick had since reopened but fast-track passengers continued to be prioritised, which he found "pretty galling".

He continued: "There was an awkward moment - half of us had been funnelled into the 'all passports' queue.

"When the system came back online they reopened almost all the UK/EU gates without opening any for us - I actually raised it with a member of staff and they finally opened one."