STORY: Images posted on social media showed unusually long queues at London's Gatwick and Heathrow airports, with frustrated passengers complaining of having to wait several hours in line.

"We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the UK," said a spokesperson for the government's interior ministry, which has oversight of border control, and said it was working to solve the problem.

The disruption, which comes during a busy period for travel in Britain with a spring bank holiday on Monday and a half-term break for schools next week, means all passengers have to be processed at manual checkpoints.

The BBC reported Eurostar passengers had also been affected with problems hitting the system at the Gare de Nord station in Paris.