... and in France, hours of hold-ups as bloody-minded customs staff strike ‘to create Brexit conditions’
CROSS-CHANNEL services were thrown into chaos yesterday as militant French trade unions staged a work to rule – in a warning about what might happen post-Brexit.
Traffic on the approach to Calais backed up for at least ten miles, while Eurostar reported cancellations and delays to services from its Paris hub, where long queues started to build from 6am.
The problems were caused by uniformed French customs officials at ports and at the Gare du Nord station in Paris interrogating all passengers once their luggage had cleared X-ray machines.
‘They’re asking us where we live, what our jobs are, and whether we have any money or drugs on us,’ said Iain Kelly, a businessman travelling by train to an early morning meeting in London. ‘This never normally happens, and it’s pretty intimidating.’
Michael Szadkowski, a Le Monde journalist who was also travelling to London, said customs officials were trying to ‘demonstrate the effects of Brexit’ and ‘the result is that security checks are reinforced with
absurdity’. Five French trade unions are behind the protests, and are demanding more staff and better pay to cope with what they argue will be more difficult and time-consuming checks after Brexit.
Philippe Bollengier, from the CGT union, added: ‘Today you have a demonstration of what is going to happen [after Brexit].’
One of his uniformed colleagues spent a minimum of three minutes interrogating every passenger. ‘Like all of them, he’s being absolutely bloody-minded,’ said a 34-year-old British passenger from London. ‘Trade unionists are using Brexit as an excuse to raise their grievances.’
The lorries trying to reach Calais are being held up because, under the work to rule, which began on Monday, customs officers are also carrying out much tighter checks at the port.
‘A demonstration of what will happen’