FRANCE BANS BRITISH LORRIES
New port chaos fears – and string of countries block flights from UK
FRANCE banned British freight lorries last night as Europe scrambled to stop the spread of a new strain of coronavirus.
The dramatic move – set to cause more misery at ports, which are already at breaking point – came after a string of countries banned flights from the UK.
Boris Johnson will hold a meeting of the emergency Cobra committee today in the wake of the developments. The Netherlands was the first to announce a travel ban, followed by Belgium, Italy, Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, Ireland and France. Italy’s foreign minister Luigi Di Maio stressed yesterday that ‘we have the duty to protect Italians’ – but his government confirmed last night that it has now found a patient infected with the new strain. Other cases have already been identified in Belgium.
Despite banning flights, Ireland said it will allow British freight traffic to continue as ‘we need haulage coming in to keep our shelves full’ – but France imposed a one-way ban. Its measures will last for 48 hours while the EU decides on a co-ordinated response to the rise of a new Covid-19 strain found in London and southern England.
The mutation, which appears to spread considerably faster, prompted Mr Johnson to cancel Christmas for millions on Saturday.
France’s freight ban will add to chaos at the border, where the key container ports of Felixstowe and Southampton have already seen huge queues and jams affecting supplies of Christmas toys and food.
Emergency measures were introduced last week as hauliers switched to using ferries and the Channel Tunnel. The chaos comes as firms race to bring in products before the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, amid uncertainty over what red tape will be introduced for January 1.
Hours after Mr Johnson’s Saturday press conference, the Netherlands imposed a flight ban on Britain for the rest of the year, leaving time to discuss ‘with other European Union nations the possibilities to contain the import of the virus from the United Kingdom’.
Germany also banned flights for the rest of the year, while other nations imposed interim measures lasting 24 or 48 hours, to be replaced when a co- ordinated response is decided upon. EU ambassadors will meet in Brussels this morning to decide on a joint plan.
Ireland’s transport minister Eamon Ryan said: ‘We need haulage coming in to keep our shelves full but other passengers will be restricted.’ He said of the travel restrictions: ‘We have to do this because the UK Government themselves... put in place very strict restrictions on movements.’
French prime minister Jean Castex said transport from the UK would be suspended for 48 hours to give ministers time to ‘clarify the health situation on the other side of the Channel’.
The ban includes all ‘accompanied freight’ carried by lorries, vans and trains with a driver, but covers just one direction – meaning travel from France into the UK is not affected.
As a result, goods can still be brought into Britain – but they must pass through ports which have been gridlocked for weeks. In addition, fears that lorry drivers will not be able to return to the UK could prevent them leaving in the first place – which could in turn lead to shortages at supermarkets.
Following last night’s developments, the port of Dover was closed to accompanied traffic ‘until further notice due to border restrictions in France’. Its website urged ‘ both accompanied freight and passenger customers’ to stay away.
Ministers in Westminster were reportedly caught off-guard by the French freight ban. The move raised concerns that amid ongoing Brexit talks, Emmanuel Macron is trying to apply pressure on the UK by demonstrating how easy it would be to disrupt its supply lines.
A Downing Street spokesman said last night: ‘The Prime Minister will chair a Cobra meeting to discuss the situation regarding international travel, in particular the steady flow of freight into and out of the UK.’ Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs committee, said: ‘This is going to be a very difficult time for all of us.’
‘Contain the import of the virus’