Delays for motorists travelling to Dover could “go on for weeks” after drivers faced 12-mile tailbacks over the weekend, police have warned.
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The UK government announced that UK Border Force staff would assist French border police with checks at Dover in a bid to clear the backlog.
Jean-Marc Puissesseau, president of the Cote d’Opale Chamber of Commerce, which runs the port of Calais, insisted he would complain to the French authorities about the failure to prepare for increased border checks.
Kent Police warned that some motorists were facing delays of eight hours before arriving at the port. Police distributed water to some who had been stuck in their cars for hours.
“I do hope that the UK Border Force will be billing the French authorities for the extra resources they have expended to help them sort out the problem”. There were reports of chronically understaffed French border controls and passengers spending the night in their cars.
Officers have drafted in a police helicopter to help deliver supplies of water to motorists stranded in the chaos, while people setting out on their journeys are being advised to take supplies of food and drink as they face continued disruption.
British officials are being drafted in to work with French border police at Dover after the United Kingdom government admitted motorists had suffered “extraordinary disruption” at the port. While he acknowledged the security situation in France, he called the events of yesterday “purely unacceptable”, remarking: “I think we can understand why the French would want to increase security after Nice last week, that is understandable… what is unacceptable is just the way people have been left in the lurch”.
A huge volume of traffic headed for the short Channel crossing from Friday but tightened security checks on travellers saw passengers passports being checked and with the Port of Dover saying the French Police aux Frontières were seriously under-staffed coaches taking more than half an hour to proceed.
“We understand that there has been extraordinary disruption in the Dover area today but safety is paramount”.
The queues reportedly began to build up in Dover from 6am on Saturday and they were still present midway through Sunday morning (GMT).
French officials have expanded border checks during the state of emergency declared after repeated extremist attacks on civilians.
The Conservative MP for Dover, Charlie Elphicke – who was stuck in traffic for about two hours on Friday – said there had been a lack of forward planning that led to poor transport management and urged the government to apologise for the “traffic nightmare”.
He said French border staff should have been better organised and prepared.
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The Port of Dover advised passengers to consider delaying their travel or make sure they had adequate food and water supplies if they chose to travel anyway.
