Air passengers braced for festive flight chaos, with Border Force agents latest to go on strike
22 December 2022, 12:37 | Updated: 23 December 2022, 05:49
Hundreds of thousands of people are set to face long queues and delays trying to fly out of the UK from Friday, as Border Force agents become the latest group to go on strike.
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The Border Force walkout is expected to cause huge disruption for air passengers - with a remote possibility that airports could even close, according to a senior official.
The walkout will affect travellers at Heathrow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Gatwick, Glasgow and Manchester airports, and the port of Newhaven in East Sussex.
This comes during the busiest Christmas for airports since 2019, as the first festive period without Covid-19 travel restrictions for three years.
Some 10,000 flights are expected to land in the UK during that period, with about 2 million seats.
Soldiers have been drafted in to replace the Border Force staff and have received some training, but bosses admitted they would not be as efficient.
And there are fears that troops will not be as good at spotting victims of human trafficking, meaning more people could be smuggled into modern slavery in the UK during the period, the Guardian reported, citing a Home Office source.
Steve Dann, chief operating officer of Border Force, said the agency's "number one priority is to keep our borders safe and secure", adding that this was "non-negotiable".
He went on: "In anticipation of the strike action, Border Force has for a number of months undertaken extensive planning, and we've been working with the travel industry and continue to work closely with all UK ports to assess the impacts of the announcement on the travelling public.
"We do have robust plans in place to minimise delays to passengers, but we've been very clear from the start that people should be prepared for disruption and take action to plan ahead."
But Brits wanting to travel home by car or by train could also be frustrated, with strike action by railway workers and National Highways staff over the festive period.
Staff at the government agency, who manage and maintain the country's biggest roads, walked out on Thursday and are not expected to return until Boxing Day.
With the AA expecting 20 million trips in the run up to Christmas because of the mass disruption caused by rail strikes, drivers can look forward to long queues as they try to make their way home to their families.
And with the railway strikes running from Christmas Eve until December 27, train services are likely to end by Saturday morning at the latest, an expert warned.
Amid this widespread chaos on roads, railways and at airports, travel experts have said British people should give themselves as much time as possible to get to their festive destination.
Simon Calder told Good Morning Britain on Thursday: "I've never known a Christmas quite like this for travel stress.
"My advice is start as early as you possibly can.
'Towards the end of the week and on Christmas Day it's going to get very very tricky, with the roads being very crowded.
"And the railways, well, services will end either on Friday night or pretty early on Saturday."
The National Highways strike by members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) has seen traffic officers and regional operating centre workers in London and south-east England walk out.
The agency plans, designs, builds and maintains the UK's busiest roads, including motorways and some A-roads.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "We're aware our action is likely to inconvenience travellers but, even as we escalate it ahead of Christmas, we remind people this dispute could be resolved today today if the Government puts more money on the table.
"Our members are telling us they have to cut back their spending at Christmas time because they are running out of money. They have been offered a below-inflation pay award, at a time when inflation is higher than 10%."
Meanwhile some train services will stop running as early as 8am on Christmas Eve, as the RMT union ramp up their strike action in walkouts lasting from December 24-29.
Network Rail boss Andrew Haines said: "RMT suggestions that their planned strike action over the festive period is "not targeting Christmas" would be laughable were the consequences not so painful to so many people.
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"I am so sorry our passengers are having to bear the brunt of the RMT's needless strike action when a fair offer is on the table and only a third of the workforce have rejected it. Two of our three trade unions have already accepted and the RMT needs to think again."
London bus workers at Abellio will also walk out on Christmas Eve in the latest of a series of strikes over another pay dispute, with Unite boss Sharon Graham accusing bus chiefs of "sitting on a pile of money".
It comes after 48 hours of strikes by NHS nurses and ambulance workers, also over a dispute about pay and conditions.
