The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that heavy rain last week disrupted flight schedules which in turn led to the Border Force facing additional problems.
“Clearly there have been some queues over recent days, caused by a number of factors including late planes and changes of schedules,” the spokesman said.
“We have to make sure we don’t do anything to compromise border security but equally we need to make sure that there is a regular flow and passengers are able to flow through the border in a reasonable way.”
However the aviation industry greeted Downing Street’s remarks with a measure of derision.
“The sun is shining and there are still queues of over an hour at Heathrow.”