24-03-2025
Facial recognition cameras secretly spy on airport passengers
Facial recognition cameras have secretly been monitoring airport passengers under a scheme backed by the Home Office, documents obtained under freedom of information (FoI) laws reveal.
Unpublished Home Office orders reveal airports are required to carry out biometric face scanning of any passenger boarding a domestic flight.
The orders, made under Schedule Two of the Immigration Act 1971, are the first known examples of the Government making facial recognition a legal requirement in the UK.
They have been in place for at least 15 years, since the last Labour government, but have never been publicly disclosed. The rules require airports with a single departure lounge to capture a facial biometric photo of domestic passengers entering and leaving this area to board their planes.
Airports are expected to use biometric technology to compare the photos and verify that the correct people are boarding their flights.
The measures are designed to prevent international passengers switching boarding passes in order to illegally enter the UK on a domestic flight.
The orders were obtained by the campaign group Big Brother Watch after a year-long transparency battle when Home Office officials initially fought to keep the orders secret. They argued that releasing the documents would reveal 'sensitive operational information'.
Big Brother Watch complained to the Information Commissioner's Office, which intervened and told the Home Office to release the documents in full.
The ruling found that the Home Office had overreached by claiming that publication would undermine immigration controls, stating that it had not presented 'credible evidence' of harm.
'New era of biometric surveillance'
Madeleine Stone, senior advocacy officer at Big Brother Watch, said attempts to keep the orders secret were 'staggering' given that they meant 'tens of millions of law-abiding passengers have had no choice but to have their faces scanned'.
She said: 'This is the first example of mandated facial recognition in Britain and represents a new era of biometric surveillance for citizens, yet the Home Office fought to keep this legal notice a secret.'
The orders obtained under FoI law relate to Manchester and Gatwick, but the rules are understood to apply to all airports which have common departure lounges for both domestic and international passengers. One dates back to 2009/2010 when Alan Johnson was Labour home secretary under Gordon Brown.
Some 3.7 million passengers took domestic flights from London Gatwick and Manchester Airport in 2023, while Heathrow had an estimated 4.2 million domestic passengers.
The order for Gatwick states that it must use 'biometric systems' whereby a 'photo reconciliation system' is located at the entrance and exit to the common departure lounge. A photo must be taken of each domestic passenger on entry to the lounge.
'On leaving the lounge, each departing domestic passenger must have their identity verified against the image captured on entry into the lounge. Technology used to capture and verify images must be of a good standard which will provide assurance of continuity of identity,' says the order.
Failure to comply with the order carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
Manchester Airport states in a privacy notice that it collects biometric data in the form of facial recognition images in terminal one security areas, terminal two transfers and terminal three.
It is understood Manchester complies with data protection laws, with the images retained for 24 hours and only shared with statutory agencies for national security purposes.
Facial images are captured as passengers enter the lounge through a gate and present their boarding pass to a reader. A second image, with which to compare their facial identification, is taken when they board their plane and leave the departure gate.
Big Brother Watch said that under UK and European law, the collection of biometric data such as facial recognition scans, fingerprinting or DNA samples was subject to strict regulation and could only be required where absolutely necessary for a legitimate or legal purpose.
It said: 'Passengers travelling internationally can choose whether to undergo facial recognition checks at e-gates or human verification by queuing for manual checks on UK borders – making the secret mandatory biometric checks for domestic travel the first known such example.'
