Mine hasn't worked at the UK eGates for months, I now try to walk straight to the rejection queue but I'm often forced by staff to go to the eGates first, even if I try to tell them it fails every time.
I find the manual desk really varies, and sometimes it takes a long time to get through if the border force agent on duty is being thorough and asking everyone where they've flown in from etc. Others just swipe the passport and let you go through quicker than the eGate would have opened if it had worked.
I also now try to politely ask the agent if they can see any reason why my passport never works on the eGates, most just shrug and say I might have picked a faulty gate or didn't hold it down hard enough or still enough. So don't think it's someone with a similar name being on a wanted list in my case .