Passport e-gates now available to children aged eight and nine

Neil Lancefield, Press Association Transport Correspondent

Access to e-gates at UK airports has been expanded to include younger children as the peak summer holiday period ramps up, the Home Office has announced.

From Wednesday, children aged eight and nine returning to the UK are eligible to use e-gates.

The gates use facial recognition technology to check passengers’ identities against the photo in their passport, which is generally quicker than manual inspections.

Children must be at least 120cm tall so they can be seen by biometric scanners, and accompanied by an adult.

Under previous rules, only passengers aged 10 and above were allowed to use the gates, forcing families with younger children to queue for passport booths.

The policy to cut the minimum age means up to 1.5 million additional children will be able to use them, the Government suggests.

Most schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland recently broke up for the summer holidays, while those in England and Wales will do so later this month.

In addition to the 13 UK airports with e-gates, children aged eight and nine are also now permitted to use them at ports in Brussels and Paris, where juxtaposed checks take place.

Border security minister Alex Norris said: “Today’s change will make journeys easier for families with small children and reduce the hassle of travelling home after a holiday.

“It will also free up more time for tourists to enjoy our fantastic country this summer and in the years ahead.”

The UK has nearly 300 e-gates.

Border Force director-general Phil Douglas previously said increasing access to e-gates enabled “highly skilled officers to focus on intercepting those who pose a threat to the UK”.

UK e-gates are available to Britons as well as nationals from the European Union, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the US.

They can also be used by members of the registered traveller service.