Brilliant news for families: kids aged 8 and 9 can zip through eGates this summer

What’s changing?

Until now, you had to be at least 10 years old to use the tech (and before 2023, it was 12!). This latest update means an extra 1.5 million children will be eligible to skip the wait every year.

It’s all part of a big push to make things smoother for families during the busy school holidays.

The "must-knows" for parents

To make sure your little ones can use the gates, there are just a couple of simple rules to keep in mind:

• Height matters: Children need to be at least 120cm tall. This is simply so the facial recognition cameras can spot them properly!

• Stay together: Kids must be travelling with an adult to use the eGate lanes.

• Passport type: They’ll still need a valid biometric passport (the one with the little gold camera icon on the front).

Where can you use them?

The new rules apply to more than 290 eGates across the UK.

This is a massive win for anyone travelling with younger kids this year. It means less time standing in line and more time getting home to put the kettle on!

Read more on the official government site: