Dover boss blames Brexit for chaos that's brought Kent to a halt - despite having 6 years to prepare
Bosses at Dover have blamed Brexit for delays of up to 30 hours faced by families trying to get to Europe, despite having six years since the EU referendum to prepare for it.
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, said the increased checks at the border that have come with Brexit are the blame for ‘increased transaction times’ that have caused huge tailbacks into the port over the last couple of days.
It comes after he claimed yesterday the port had been ‘let down’ by French border control staff after some passport booths were left empty on Thursday and Friday.
Mr Bannister added the port had tried to prepare by creating ‘more border capacity’, but that travellers should expect some delays.
That will come as little comfort to the thousands of holidaymakers stuck in traffic yesterday and today as they try to get their summer break underway.
Many people reported delays of up to seven hours as they tried to get into the port and onto ferries yesterday, while one unnamed man told the BBC he had been there for ’30 hours’ trying to make the crossing.
The travel chaos prompted Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to wade into the ever-growing row between the UK and France over the problems at the border, calling it ‘entirely avoidable’ and demanding action from France.
French officials hit back, blaming Brexit despite the decision to leave the European Union being made more than half a decade ago, while also saying that the port is ‘too small’ for the amount of traffic that goes through it.
There were also delays for people trying to get to the Eurotunnel at Folkestone, with one motorist claiming there were ‘at least two miles of queues by 7am’ this morning, and that one worker warned them waits of ‘eight hours’ could be possible.
Queues build up in Dover this morning as the travel chaos that has enveloped the port in recent days set to continue on the first weekend of the summer break
There are still long queues on the road into the Port of Dover this morning, as border officials work to get through the backlog that developed on Thursday and Friday
People get out their vehicles and walk around as they wait at check-in before going through security at the Port of Dover this morning
Yesterday officials blamed a lack of staffing among French border control for the long delays, which left some people waiting for more than eight hours to get through. Pictured are vehicles waiting at check-in in the Port of Dover this morning
People stand around as their vehicles wait in lanes at Port of Dover check-in this morning. The CEO of the port yesterday blamed a lac of French security staff for the long delays
A man gets out of his car and stretches his legs as vehicles queue up to reach the port this morning. Yesterday some people claimed to have waited for more than seven hours to get on a ferry
It is reported that while French border control staff have turned up today, they will have clear a backlog of traffic, including people who have slept in their vehicles overnight.
Mr Bannister said it was ‘let down’ by poor resourcing at the French border on Friday and this was ‘immensely frustrating’.
Speaking this morning on the BBC Radio 4 Today Show, he appeared to back away from those comments, and instead blamed Brexit.
‘We are operating in a post-Brexit environment which does mean that passports need to be checked, they need to be stamped and indeed the capable people that do man the booths, Police Aux Frontieres, they’re doing their job that they need to do now,’ he said.
He said the port had ‘created more border capacity so that the overall throughput can be maintained’ and that while their modelling had shown some ‘very peak busy days during the summer season’ are expected, ‘for the most part we should be able to cope with the traffic’.
People walk along the road as cars queue to try and reach the Eurotunnel at Folkestone in Kent this morning, amid claims delays could be up to eight hours today
Cars queue at the check-in at the Port of Dover this morning at the start of a day that is expected to see delays for travellers continue
Cars and lorries queue on the road approaching the Port of Dover this morning, amid suggestions queues could be even worse today
Doug Bannister (pictured), chief executive of the Port of Dover, has blamed Brexit for the ongoing delays as travellers desperately try and get their summer holidays underway
‘They just haven’t turned up’ – how Dover became a giant car park
While French officials have blamed the increase in the number of checks needed after Brexit for delays yesterday and today, staff at the Port of Dover say that’s not the case.
Officials at the port claim they have done all they can to help their French counterparts, including building three new passport booths to bring the total to ten.
But they say they were shocked to find out the ‘completely and utterly inadequate’ staffing levels Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) were planning to use this weekend.
One source told the Telegraph the French ‘just haven’t turned up’.
They said French border officials have the option to reduce the number of checks they make at each vehicle if they want, but ‘they are crossing every ‘i’ and dotting every ‘t”.
They said: ‘They [the French] are doing everything they can, it would appear, to make it difficult, which is why everyone is so frustrated.’
The Telegraph added that more staff were called in to help later in the day, but because they travelled in on the Eurostar instead of the ferry, they were caught up in traffic on the M20.
It wasn’t just people trying to make the crossing who were caught up in the traffic, with locals who live near to the A20 approaching the port saying gridlock is now a regular occurrence.
Jamie, who lives in a house on the A20, said it was like having ‘Glastonbury outside your house six times a year’.
However, this was disputed by Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, told Sky News this morning: ‘It was a dreadful start to that summer getaway yesterday and an appalling situation for residents in Dover too. There simply weren’t enough French border police.
‘Today I am hearing the French workers have turned up and they are expected to be manning the booths at capacity but there will be a knock-on effect as there always is when there is an issue that has happened at the ports.
‘We are expecting long, long delays today, traffic has already been building up around the town and it is going to be a very serious situation on the roads again in Kent today.’
And writing in the Express the MP called on France to apologise for the disruption of the last two days.
She wrote: ‘What is particularly maddening is that efforts to stop this very situation from happening had been going on for weeks prior.
‘The Port of Dover, the Kent Resilience Forum and the Department for Transport had prepared carefully so that the summer getaway peak weekend went without a hitch.
‘Yet despite all the preparations, the French let us down badly. Ruining the start of family holidays is not something that can simply be dismissed with a Gallic shrug.
‘France should apologise to Dover residents and the travellers who have suffered real misery on Kent’s roads, not make up excuses for letting everyone down.’
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for international trade, accused the Government of being ‘absent’ during the chaos in Kent.
Speaking on Times Radio, he said: ‘What we really do need to see is a Government that is taking a grip of this situation.
‘The Government has not been planning in advance. We were urging the Government, for example, some months ago to negotiate a veterinary agreement to reduce the number of checks. The Government has not done that, has not put the planning in place and yet again, we have a crisis where the Government is absent.’
He also hit out at Tory leadership candidates, telling the programme: ‘They’re now contained once again, in their own infighting whilst we have something like this critical incident we’ve been discussing in Dover where their focus is elsewhere.’
There are also issues at Folkestone, with people queuing for hours to board trains at the Eurotunnel. Some people even slept in their cars, with photos on social media showing people walking amongst the gridlocked vehicles in the middle of the night.
Motorist Sian Sturgis, who is waiting to get on to a train at the Eurotunnel, said traffic had moved just 100 metres in two hours this morning.
Photos from the queue even show families playing badminton in the traffic jams as they wait.
Traffic queues on the M20 near Folkestone this morning as people trying to travel using the Eurotunnel in the town and ferries at the Port of Dover
A passenger hangs his head out the window of a car waiting to at check-in at the Port of Dover this morning. It is reported all ten passport booths, as well as five extra ones, are being manned at the port today
One family was pictured playing badminton while stuck in the gridlock when trying to get to the Eurotunnel at Folkestone this morning
Today Port of Dover officials said French border staff have been ‘fully mobilised’ to clear the backlog of freight traffic and cars.
It is understood all 10 of the French passport booths are being manned today, as are five additional booths.
In a statement the Port of Dover said: ‘The Port of Dover is relieved that French border staff (Police Aux Frontieres) have been fully mobilised at French border controls in Dover (known as ‘juxtaposed controls’) on Saturday morning in order to get holidaymakers and freight vehicles moving and to relieve the disruption on the Dover and wider Kent community.
‘There is of course a way to go to clear the backlog of waiting passengers, some of whom have had more extensive delays due to a serious incident yesterday on the M20.
‘Our thoughts are with those who were caught up in the incident, both directly and indirectly as a result of the additional disruption. We will, together with our ferry operators, support the efforts of all partners to get people on their way as quickly as possible.
‘Today is going to be very busy, with more UK tourists heading to Dover in order to travel to France. Passengers should keep in touch with their ferry operators for the latest information on their sailings.’
It was not just holidaymakers stuck in the traffic, with at least 3,000 lorries currently parked up on the M20 waiting to head to the port and the Channel Tunnel as part of Operation Brock – the traffic management system that deals with freight.
National Highways has announced it will close the M20 coast bound between J8-9 to all traffic so lorries will have somewhere to park, reducing disruption to other road users and other roads in Kent.
Families are facing another day of gridlock around Dover with 19million cars hitting the roads today ‘after French staff caused delays’ – while protests are set to bring London to a standstill and the airport chaos rumbles on. Pictured: Lengthy traffic queues on the M20 on Friday evening
People make their way to the cruise terminal in Dover in Kent
People drag suitcases down the road as they make their way to the cruise terminal in Dover in Kent
And residents near Folkestone complained this morning the gridlock meant they were physically unable to leave their village in their cars.
AS Roberts tweeted: ‘I don’t often get on my soapbox but this is crazy. We live near Folkestone Kent and can’t get out of our village… not one member of Kent Police in sight to help! And all these poor people waiting to go on holiday.’
This is the first weekend of what is expected to be the busiest school break in nearly a decade as families look to make the most of the holidays after two Covid-hit years.
The RAC said an estimated 18.8million leisure trips were planned in the UK between Friday and Monday – the most since it began tracking summer getaway numbers in 2014.
While airports have seen months of travel chaos due to staffing shortages following the pandemic, the start of the summer holidays has seen Dover become embroiled in this too, with miles of tailbacks into the port.
It has sparked a bitter row between the UK and France, with both sides essentially blaming the other for the delays.
UK officials have blamed a lack of French border security staff, with claims that of the 14 workers expected to turn up to passport booths yesterday, only six turned up on time.
French officials said an ‘unforeseeable technical incident’ in the Channel Tunnel meant that the staffing of border control booths had to be pushed back from 8.30am to 9.45am on Friday morning.
But Eurotunnel’s Director of Public Affairs John Keefe told the BBC that the Tunnel incident had ‘absolutely nothing to do with problems at the Port of Dover’, adding that issues had actually started at the port on Thursday.
Now Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who is fighting to become the next Prime Minister in the Conservative leadership campaign, has waded into the row, saying it was an ‘awful’ but ‘entirely avoidable’ situation. ‘
Speaking yesterday, she said: ‘We need action from France to build up capacity at the border to limit any further disruption for British tourists and to ensure this appalling situation is avoided in future. We will be working with the French authorities to find a solution.’
However, Pierre-Henri Dumont, Republican MP for Calais, told the BBC: ‘This is an aftermath of Brexit. We have to run more checks than before.’
Mr Dumont also said the Port of Dover was ‘too small’ and that there were too few kiosks due to lack of space.
The war of words will come as little comfort to those stuck in the jams for hours on end yesterday as they struggled to get their summer breaks on the continent started.
Speaking to the BBC, brothers Ben and Eric Janousek said they had set off from Tunbridge Wells in Kent at 5am yesterday and still had to wait ‘seven or eight hours to get on a boat’ at the port.
They added that were frustrated by a lack of information about how long the delay was going to be.
Matters were not helped for many travellers as the M20 was closed in both directions last night after a crash involving a van and a lorry.
The driver of the van, a man in his 40s, was airlifted to hospital in London following the incident, while the road remained closed for hours.
People are seen dragging their suitcases down the road on their way to Dover
People drag their bags down the road to Dover because no taxis or buses are available
PORT OF DOVER: Cars queue at the check-in at the Port of Dover in Kent this morning as many families embark on summer getaways
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss blamed France for the delays and queues, calling them ‘unacceptable’ and ‘entirely avoidable’
PORT OF DOVER: Vehicles queue at Dover in Kent yesterday after the Port declared a ‘critical incident’ as queues built up
PORT OF DOVER: Cars queue at the check-in at the Port of Dover in Kent yesterday as many families embark on getaways
KENT: Traffic queuing to leave the closed coastbound M20 in Kent yesterday afternoon as families embark on getaways
FOLKESTONE: Traffic is almost at a standstill around the Folkestone area on Friday amid mass problems on the Kent coast
LONDON HEATHROW AIRPORT: Passengers queue for check-in on a Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) flight at Heathrow on Friday
PORT OF DOVER: Vehicles queue at Dover in Kent on Friday after the Port declared a ‘critical incident’ as queues built up
FOLKESTONE: Traffic is almost at a standstill around the Folkestone area yesterday amid mass problems on the Kent coast
BRISTOL AIRPORT: Holidaymakers and commuters flying from Bristol Airport encounter lengthy queues early yesterday morning
At the start of the first unrestricted summer holidays since Covid struck in 2020:
And there’s still no end to airport nightmare
An environment minister said disruptive protest groups such as Extinction Rebellion are ‘absolutely right’ and the pressure they exert ‘does work’.
Lord Goldsmith said while they are ‘annoying’, their road blockages and property damage are productive.
The Conservative peer warned this week the Tories would be ‘digging our electoral grave’ if the next prime minister abandoned the party’s net zero commitments.
‘The principle is absolutely right,’ Lord Goldsmith told BBC Radio 4. ‘There is a real anxiety that we are heading towards a cliff and we’re not doing enough. And that’s true, we’re not. That kind of pressure… may be annoying but it works.’ Earlier this year his brother Ben made similar comments and faced calls to resign from his position as non-executive board member at Defra.
Yesterday traffic jams built up on the M5 during a ‘go-slow’ protest against high fuel prices organised by Fuel Price Stand Against Tax. About ten vehicles drove at 20mph and affected the M5 in Somerset and routes around Bristol.
- Air passengers faced lengthy queues at Heathrow, Bristol, Stansted and Manchester with around 1.3million people hoping to fly off over the weekend;
- An estimated 18.8million Britons are also expected to hit the roads today and tomorrow – with fears of serious jams on the busiest weekend in eight years;
- Central London is expected to grind to a standstill today with a ‘mass swarming march’ against the cost of living squeeze;
- Trains will grind to a halt once again next week with 40,000 RMT workers downing tools for 24 hours on Wednesday – and a further walkout of train drivers on Saturday.
Yesterday’s chaotic scenes heaped fresh misery on travellers who have already suffered months of disruptions at understaffed airports and endured strike action on the railways. But the war of words with France dominated as Dover chief executive Doug Bannister said they had been ‘badly let down’.
Port officials insist they had been preparing for a busy summer for months – doubling the number of border control booths and sharing traffic volume forecasts ‘in granular detail’ with the French.
But French border officers operated just six of their 12 booths at Dover during the early morning.
The resulting queues stretched for miles and backed up into Dover town centre and on to the M20. Natalie Elphicke, Conservative MP for Dover, accused French officers of failing to turn up for work.
She added: ‘The French need to get a grip on this situation and get those passport booths staffed at maximum capacity during this critical weekend for holiday getaways.
‘The first two weekends of the summer holiday are the busiest. It’s highly likely there’ll be a repeat this weekend and next weekend.’
Her fellow Tory MP Greg Smith claimed the French were ‘cutting off their nose to spite their own face because Brits love France’.
He said: ‘It just beggars belief that the French are not doing everything they possibly can to secure the fast flow of passengers through their border controls.’
PORT OF DOVER: Huge queues at the Port of Dover in Kent yesterday as ferry companies warned of six-hour waits
LONDON STANSTED AIRPORT: Queues on Friday at London Stansted Airport as passengers wait to check in baggage
M5: Sudden heavy showers break out over the M5 motorway in the South West today amid heavy congestion yesterday
LONDON ST PANCRAS STATION: Queues for Eurostar services at London St Pancras Friday as the school holidays begin
M25: Heavy traffic on the M25 Junction 11 yesterday afternoon at the school summer holidays begin
The French official responsible for border management said that the delays were due to an ‘unforeseeable technical incident’.
Their passport booth staff journey through the Channel tunnel to reach Dover.
Georges-Francois Leclerc, a regional prefect, said: ‘The plan was to have all booths manned by 8am. But an unforeseeable technical incident in the tunnel meant that police had to push back their full deployment by an hour.’
His claims were dismissed by Eurotunnel’s John Keefe who said: ‘The incident at the port started overnight well before a minor technical incident in the Channel tunnel. There is absolutely no correlation between the two.’
A port source admitted it was likely the delays would run throughout the rest of weekend and potentially into next week. ‘Once you’ve lost control of the queue, it’s hard to get it back,’ they added.
Bernard Poon found himself trapped in the chaos with an unhappy toddler and three-month-old baby in the back of his car. ‘Moved 50 metres per hour,’ he said. ‘At this rate, it’ll be 34 hours before I get to the port.’
LONDON KING’S CROSS STATION: People at King’s Cross railway station in London yesterday as many families go on getaways
PORT OF DOVER: People walk with luggage through Dover in Kent Friday as many families embark on getaways
LONDON KING’S CROSS STATION: People at King’s Cross railway station in London Friday as many families go on getaways
PORT OF DOVER: A man cycles with a suitcase past traffic jams in Dover yesterday as many families embark on getaways
PORT OF DOVER: Cars queue at the check-in at the Port of Dover in Kent yesterday as many families embark on getaways
LONDON KING’S CROSS STATION: People at King’s Cross railway station in London on Friday as many families go on getaways
Lorry drivers were also caught up in yesterday’s disruption with one saying he had been queueing in his HGV since 6pm on Thursday without being able to cross.
Muhammet Turker from Turkey said: ‘I’ve been in something like this before, but this is the worst.’
He added that it eclipsed the P&O situation when workers for the ferry company protested against mass lay-offs earlier this year.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said: ‘As the schools closed their doors fully yesterday, Saturday could prove busier still this weekend.
‘Drivers should continue to expect disruption and delays on major holiday routes to the south-west, eastern coast and ports of Dover and Folkestone.
‘While many have decided to go at the start of the summer holidays, between now and the beginning of September when schools return, each Friday and Saturday will be busy on our roads.
‘This is because these are the main switchover days for holiday lets.’
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