Heathrow queues not promising for Olympics

New figures on passport control at Heathrow Airport have given the lie to government claims that all will be well come the Olympics.

At Terminal Four last month, passengers from outside Europe faced queues of up to three hours, and it was nearly as bad at other terminals.

Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant says that's twice as long as the Government says they are.

"The Government have cut the number of staff by 800 while spending 2.5 million pounds on new uniforms. They've increased the checks at the border which is right but at the same time they haven't given the resources to border force to be able to get the queues through swiftly."

Recently retired immigration officer Chris Hobs says the situation is reaching breaking point.

"Grossly understaffed at peak times of the day. There are not enough officers to do the job properly, there are not enough officers to carry out the inquiries they need to carry out on passengers they're not happy with."

Mr Hobs says that means border controls are slack and sloppy.

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