France ‘shame’ at port chaos

FRANCE was told to get its act together by port bosses on both sides of the English Channel yesterday after its terror crackdown gridlocked the weekend’s summer getaway.

France imposed tough new passport checks following the recent spate of terror attacks.

But it did not send enough passport officers to Dover, despite being warned days in advance that it would be the busiest weekend of the year.

Even the boss of Calais’s port admitted he was “ashamed” at how the chaos ruined the holidays of 250,000 ferry passengers.

France carries out passport checks at Dover, but at one point only three of its seven booths were operating despite 12-mile tailbacks. The resulting queues led to 15-hour waits for some.

P&O Ferries chief executive Helen Deeble described the queues as “completely unacceptable” and said such long delays “must never be allowed to happen again”. She blamed France for failing to put enough resources into its anti-terror policy.

She said: “Increased security checks at the border are completely understandable, but the French authorities must provide adequate numbers of staff to ensure that these checks can be processed quickly and efficiently.

“The failure to do so at the weekend was the primary cause of the delays. We will be talking to the British and French authorities to ensure that there is no repetition of this disruption,” she said.