Military personnel have stepped in to check passports at UK airports to keep things running smoothly for thousands making their way home for Christmas. Heathrow and Gatwick airports both said their immigration halls were operating as normal on Friday morning, 23 December. There were fears that a Border Force strike would cause travel chaos for Britons at home and abroad in the run-up to the holidays. Around 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services union employed by the Home Office to operate passport booths walked out of some of the UK's main airports. Source: PA