Border guard shortage risks 'gridlock' at airports this Easter, airlines warn This in turn will delay departing passengers and cause overcrowding in departure areas as a result. The memo to Theresa May in full: The airlines are urging the Government to employ more border control staff or relax tough restrictions on immigration checks introduced after a scandal at the UK Border Agency last November. Brodie Clark, the head of the agency, resigned after Mrs May said he had relaxed checks without her permission. He was later given £100,000 compensation by the Home Office, with neither side admitting fault. Simon Buck, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association, has now written to Mrs May on behalf of 11 airlines urging her to ensure passport controls are "properly resourced." He said: "We don't want to see queues at airports. It's bad for passengers and for UK plc to see long queues at passport control. We are looking for reassurance from the Home Office that the Border Force will be properly resourced. We don't want to see queues at airports. There was a risk approach until November last year, and the Border Force was streamlined to focus on this approach. The leaked Virgin Atlantic memo, sent by a senior executive and seen by The Daily Telegraph, is even more stark. It warns that there is a "very real chance of gridlock at UK airports" over the Easter holidays. It says ministers have either to provide more staff, or to reinstate targeted checks on people coming from high risk areas instead of taking a blanket approach. It says the number of border officials has fallen by a quarter in recent years, leading to fears that "this level of resource is incompatible with a return to 100 per cent checks and if left unaddressed will cause congestion at UK airports." Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, warned that the queues could turn into a "national embarrassment." He said the Government should either provide increased resources or allow a much more risk-based approach. He said: "We don't want this turning into a shambles in the run-up to and during the Olympics." A spokesman for BAA admitted that waiting times at Heathrow were unacceptable. He said: "Immigration waiting times during peak periods at Heathrow are currently unacceptable and we have called on the UK Border Force to address the problem as a matter of urgency. There isn't a trade-off between strong border security and a good passenger experience. UK Border Force should be delivering both. Louise Ellman, Labour chairman of the all-party Commons transport select committee, said: "I am concerned about long queues building up, the UK Border Agency has got to provide staff to carry out the checks it has decided are necessary. It affects families and children and will cause a lot of frustration and upset. If the Government wants checks on this scale it should provide the resources to do it. A Border Force spokesman said: "We will not compromise border security but we always aim to keep disruption to a minimum. Carrying out full checks can mean queues at peak times while we ensure that only people entitled to enter the UK can do so. Flights to France have been disrupted by a strike by French air traffic controllers. The dispute affected carriers including Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways. Planned strikes by ground staff at Stansted Airport over Easter have been called off. Members of the GMB union had been due to walk out for four hours on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Monday in a dispute over pay.