UK: Warning travel problems could continue into summer

Worker shortages mean airports and ports are facing a "very difficult summer", a border staff union has said. Lucy Moreton, from the Immigration Services Union, warned that Border Force was "catastrophically under-staffed" and that it took nearly a year to fully train new officers. Meanwhile, one aviation recruitment expert said it would take at least 12 months for shortages to settle down. Some travellers have seen long queues and cancellations over Easter. The travel industry cut thousands of jobs during the pandemic, but as demand for flights has returned, it has struggled to recruit, carry out security checks and train new staff quickly enough. "For the first time in living memory, Border Force is no longer attracting enough candidates to fill the vacancies that they've got," Moreton said. "Combined with the fact it takes nearly a year to fully train a Border Force officer, we're going into not just this summer but this weekend catastrophically under-staffed, with people beginning to travel again."<br/>