The busiest holiday weekend of the year was plunged into chaos on Friday as families were forced to wait for up to six hours at the Port of Dover because of “woefully inadequate” border control staffing, with the delays expected to run into early next week.
A “critical incident” was declared on Friday morning when officials from France’s Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) were late to open the port’s security checks, resulting in traffic queues that stretched for miles along the south coast of England.
With 18.8 million road journeys expected to take place throughout the UK this weekend – the first of the school summer holiday – those families, along with lorries hoping to cross the Channel, were told to arrive at least five hours before their departure time in order to have time to clear the border controls.
As the AA warned of a “bumper-to-bumper summer”, the Port of Dover said it would “take some time to clear the backlog”, while one port source admitted it was likely the delays would run throughout the weekend and potentially into next week. “Once you’ve lost control of the queue, it’s hard to get it back,” they added.
By Friday afternoon, resources at the border had increased, allowing the traffic to start to move slowly, but holidaymakers were warned to come prepared with water, food and supplies, while P&O Ferries said there were still “queues of up to four or five hours” at the port.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said on Friday evening that he was “working closely” with his French counterpart, Clement Beaune, to “address the issues that caused tailbacks”, while Liz Truss said action was needed to increase capacity.
The foreign secretary described the delays and queues as “unacceptable”, and said that the situation was “entirely avoidable”.
She added: “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.”
Doug Bannister, CEO of the Port of Dover, attacked the French authorities for “woefully inadequate” staff levels, and local MP Natalie Elphicke claimed that French border officers “didn’t turn up for work”.
Mr Bannister added that officials had shared “granular detail” on an “hour-by-hour basis” with the French about the amount of traffic expected, in a bid to avoid disruption.
The port source…
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