Passport swap couple walk through airport scanners

The incident, which took place on 8 February, was an isolated occurrence that was "picked up very quickly", said a spokesman. The gates were suspended for two days, but are now back open. Brodie Clark, head of border force at the UK Border Agency (UKBA) said that there was no breach of security or immigration control. He explained that e-gates are used in conjunction with manual checking by border officials and this in this case both individuals were stopped by the immigration officer responsible for supervising the gates. "The e-gates were temporarily suspended whilst an investigation was carried out. The investigation concluded that no other sites were affected, and the border was not compromised as a result of the incident," he said "The gates have now re-opened and we will continue to monitor their performance to ensure they operate safely and securely. To date more than 3m people have used the e-gates system." Facial recognition gates scan passengers' faces and then compare them to the photos digitally stored on their passports. The system can be used by adult biometric passport holders from the UK and Europe. In 2008 when the technology was first trialled at Manchester airport, the Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents UKBA staff, voiced concerns about the reliability and accuracy of facial recognition technology. This article is published by Guardian Professional