A 15-hour mega jam in UK as France ups border checks
Lack of French border control staff combined with increased security resulted in mammoth queues
DOVER: British holidaymakers spent hours sweating in their cars as 15-hour queues snaked back from the port of Dover on Sunday due to heightened entry checks by French border police.
Stationary vehicles tailed back up to 19 km inland from Dover, on England’s southeastern tip.
The peak summer holiday getaway season and what Dover port officials said was a lack of French border control staff combined with the increased security to create the mammoth queues.
Dover is Britain’s main ferry port to continental Europe, with Calais in northeastern France 33 km away across the Channel. A multiple sclerosis sufferer travelling to Germany for stem cell treatment was among those forced to spend the night in their vehicles.
What should have been a straight forward journey to Dover turned into a 20-hour ordeal for 50-year-old Tanya Cudworth, who was travelling to a Frankfurt clinic.
She told the Press Association news agency that her experience was “absolutely horrendous”.
“Nineteen hours in the car has obviously aggravated my symptoms,” she said.
“During the day it was so hot and there was nowhere near enough water and at night... you couldn’t sleep because you had to keep moving forward.
“We didn’t get any water until 3 am and I saw women with babies, young families and people with pets with no water. It’s shocking that more done to get it to people.”
People were advised to bring food and drink supplies, while Sikh humanitarian organisation Khalsa Aid delivered bottles of water and snacks.
“We met a lot of young families with children, mostly people going on holidays,” said founder Ravi Singh, 46.
“People didn’t know what was going on. People were very, very frustrated and pulling their hair out. It was a very miserable day for many people.”
Dover port authorities said French border control booths had been “seriously understaffed overnight”.
British border officials were drafted in to help their French colleagues.
ANOTHER REPORT ON P14 wasn’t