'Never seen anything like it': Celebrity chef James Martin is caught in the ...

Celebrity chef James Martin has claimed he has 'never seen anything like it' after he became caught up in the queueing madness at London Heathrow airport yesterday.

The 49-year-old took to Twitter yesterday evening to express his shock at the scenes he had witnessed in the airport as people waited in tightly-packed areas upon arrival.

The chef said in his tweet: 'Wow never seen anything like Heathrow right now for passport control … queues of 1000s probs 10,000 waiting for hours all stood together… utter madness .' 

It comes after the Home Office finally admitted that massive queues at London Heathrow where people, including a pregnant woman, have fainted are 'unacceptable' after airport bosses accused Border Force of causing chaos at Terminal 5 all this week. 

A furious blame-game broke out yesterday morning after images posted to Twitter overnight showed thousands of British arrivals forced to cram into small hallways with no social distancing measures in place and queueing for several hours to pass immigration.

One holidaymaker, Sonny Singh, told Sky News he saw a pregnant woman pass out while in the queue on Friday night. 'There were thousands of families queuing and just two people in booths up front checking documents,' he claimed. 'Children were screaming and crying. 

'The queue moved about five feet in the space of about 45 minutes. Then, when the pregnant woman fainted, it finally got through to someone somewhere - the kids were then put on the side to sit while the adults waited in the queue and it began moving faster.'

One photo even appears to show a male traveller lying on the floor in the London airport after apparently passing out while queueing for passport control, amid claims that stressed holidaymakers had no access to ventilation or toilets, and no shuttles were available.

An incensed passenger queueing for hours to get to immigration at Heathrow tweeted last night: 'Kids crying and screaming and fully grown [men] fainting whilst two people at the booth serving thousands of people queuing up to the runway.' 

Astonishingly, Heathrow has twice admitted that they have no idea how long it will take passengers to pass through immigration. The border chaos has been compounded by the fact that families with children aged under 12 can't use the e-gates. 

In a statement, a Heathrow spokeswoman blamed 'unacceptable queueing times in immigration' on 'too few Border Force officers on duty'. She claimed the Home Office 'were aware of the extra demand' and said they are 'disappointed' they didn't provide 'sufficient resource'. 

'We have additional Heathrow colleagues to support in managing queues and to hand out passenger welfare including water, but we need every immigration desk to be staffed at peak times. We have escalated this with Border Force and expect them to provide a better service over the remainder of the weekend,' the spokeswoman added. 

A Home Office spokesman admitted yesterday: 'Throughout the pandemic we have been clear that queue times may be longer as we ensure all passengers are compliant with the health measures put in place to keep the UK public safe. 

'However, the very long wait times we saw at Heathrow last night are unacceptable. This is the busiest weekend of the year for returning passengers, with particularly high numbers of families with children under the age of 12 who cannot use e-gates.

'Border Force is rapidly reviewing its rosters and capacity and flexibly deploying our staff across the airport to improve waiting times. We are working very closely with Heathrow Airport and its airlines and we are all committed to making sure all passengers can have a safe and hassle-free journey.'  

Tory MPs have joined a growing backlash against the border chaos overseen by Home Secretary Priti Patel and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, while industry experts warn the huge queues are damaging Britain's reputation as a hub for global travel. 

As Heathrow was engulfed in border chaos:

Henry Smith, Tory chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation, told MailOnline: 'More resources need to be put into managing the chaos at the border at Heathrow, otherwise it could lead to increased risk of Covid transmission, a surge in cases and another crisis this winter.

'These scenes are discouraging people from going abroad and are making safe international travel even harder. With fewer people willing to get on planes abroad or to come into the UK, I fear that the result of this will be further job losses in the aviation and hospitality sectors already devastated by what has already been two very difficult years.'

Paul Charles, CEO of the respected PC Agency, told MailOnline that Border Force should have known this weekend is one of the busiest for travel back into Britain after the summer period and August bank holiday week, and urged Miss Patel to 'get a grip'.

He accused the Government of 'incompetence' and 'making life so hard for those airlines who have experienced months of shutdown and are now trying to make travel as Covid-safe and seamless as possible for holidaymakers who frankly just want a break'. 

Dr Steven Freudmann, former President of ABTA, said the images of chaos at Britain's biggest airport make the country look like a 'laughing stock' and will 'put people off from visiting'. He also called the mayhem a 'disgrace' and 'totally predictable'. 

Responding to criticism, the airport tweeted on Friday: 'Whilst we do not have exact figures out how long queues can take our teams in the terminals are on hand to support where possible and we are working with Border Force to reduce delays as soon as possible.' 

It then said yesterday morning: 'We are unable to provide information in regards to immigration queue times on behalf of UK Border Force, who operate and manage our immigration halls'. 

Speaking to MailOnline, Lucy Moreton, spokeswoman for the Immigration Services Union, said: 'Border Force, and in particular large airports like London Heathrow, have suffered from chronic under funding for some years. Although Border Force as whole has recruited almost 1,000 new officers in the last two years these have been paid for with EU exit money and directed solely to inland and international trade. 

'London Heathrow has had no inbound recruitment for many years but staff loss is still running between 10 and 20 per cent. Resources are understandably also stretched by the demands of small boats migration, Afghan re-settlement etc. This, as well as normal staff sickness, leave demands and staff positive for Covid all contribute to reduced staff on a day by day basis.'

One traveller told MailOnline on Friday night: 'I am currently at Heathrow airport and the queues have been three to five hours long for immigration. I landed in Terminal 5 and the transit train wasn't working so we had to walk in a tunnel for about 20 minutes with no ventilation during Covid. We have been in the queue for two to three hours but some will have to wait five hours, with families and babies stuck in the queue.' 

Another said: 'The shuttle trains had been suspended so you had to walk all the way underground instead. My husband and I were very close to the man who fainted and police had to manage the queues for the lifts. Without the police people could have been crushed or injured. No fire exits. No toilets. This could so very easily have turned out to be an even more major incident. 

'I get it that the source of the problem lay with Border Force but even so the airport didn't make any announcements to their passengers and other staff gave out no information which just added to the panic for passengers caught in the middle. I was shocked by the lack of any real attempts from any staff to help passengers or even just to remind people to distance or to wear masks over mouth and nose to improve safety just a little. I even observed some staff who were not wearing their own masks properly - either just standing looking helpless or chatting together seemingly immune to what was going on around them. 

'The worst thing is that the way that the queues were organised meant that you couldn't distance and had people walking in the opposite direction facing you all the time at either side. Everyone coming in from different flights all together in one very small enclosed unventilated space. If you wanted to design a super-spreader event this would be the way to do it. 

'Then at the end of it all, no one even checked any of our Covid paperwork. We simply went through the e-passport gates. We were queuing for more than two hours. The baggage hall was also just a mess with baggage piling up so you had to walk about hunting for your cases which had been removed from the conveyors. It felt as though no one cared.'

Taking to Twitter, one traveller said: '@UKBorder why aren't the passport check desks fully staffed at Heathrow airport today? @HeathrowAirport why aren't you ensuring the well-being of passengers arriving by providing drinking water for those in the nearly 2 hour long queue?' 

Another tweeted: '@pritipatel @grantshapps Why were there long queues on the 3 Sep 21 at Heathrow? We landed at 21:35 and left the airport after midnight due to long queues at immigration. Why were families expected to queue for over 2 hours when single passengers could use the e-gates?'

A third person posted: 'Friends arriving at @HeathrowAirport this week telling me the situation is beyond a joke. Queues beyond 2 hours at passport control & people handing out water & snacks. Why can't these people work at immigration? What's going on? #Heathrow I'm not buying covid as an excuse'.

Tweeting overnight, one holidaymaker said: 'Currently mingling with 1000s of others, 1 hour in, plenty to go. Why bother with green, Amber, red tiers when your [sic] all put together on arrival?'

Another raged: 'Border Force, embarrassing scenes at LHR T5 this evening with massive snaking queues for families. Incompetent border force staff refused to redeploy staff when asked to by T5 staff #heathrow @pritipatel'.

'I came prepared Heathrow. Shame you wasn't ready for your customers. Passport control was a mess, only a few of your machines working. The staff manning them didn't know what was going on. Oh, and I arrived just under 2 hours ago and still no updates from your team,' another tweeted. 

Mr Charles told MailOnline: 'First of all, this weekend is one of the busiest weekends for travel into the UK after that long summer break and the week following the August bank holiday. Border Force either know that or they don't. They should have been planning for an increase in passengers coming through Heathrow, and it's ridiculous that this has been allowed to happen yet again.

'What kind of message does this send to the world about Britain? How does it look to other countries who are looking at those pictures and videos of big queues at Heathrow? Well I'll tell you. It sends the message that Britain is not fit for purpose.

'There's certainly incompetence and mismanagement. But it does seem that the Government are trying to make international travel as difficult as possible for British holidaymakers wanting to get away. I don't think they don't want people to leave this country because they're obsessing over Covid numbers and keeping them down at whatever cost.

'This is not a government famous for trying to reopen global travel. It has put the brakes on overseas travel throughout this pandemic, despite the industry clamouring for a proper reopening. Add the traffic light system and the testing regime to chaos at Heathrow, and it has the effect of putting people off from flying anywhere. And it's working.

'It does seem to me that they're deliberately sowing complexity around global travel.'   

Images taken on Friday showed snaking lines of frustrated passengers waiting to enter the UK, in scenes that are now wearily familiar due to Border Force failing to tackle an issue that has been going on all summer.  One furious traveller told MailOnline: 'The queues have been three to five hours long for immigration.

'I landed in Terminal 5 and the transit train wasn't working so we had to walk in a tunnel for about 20 minutes with no ventilation. We've been in a queue for two to three hours already, but some have been told the wait is up to five hours - with families and babies stuck in the queue.'

Another person said: 'There are massive queues at Terminal 5 again.

'Really young children and old people had to walk the full walkway as shuttle trains are out of service, and there are no toilets between the gates and passport control. No water. No social distancing. Supposedly the UK is a first world country, but not by this measure.