Lorry drivers face ‘two-day queues’
LORRY drivers in Dover face the “absolutely outrageous” scenario of sitting in two-day long queues without food or toilets if the UK crashes out of the EU, hauliers have warned.
A Road Haulage Association (RHA) spokesman said a no-deal Brexit means thousands of drivers may end up waiting in queues for more than 48 hours with no welfare facilities.
The RHA was among organisations meeting Cabinet ministers in Dover to discuss preparations for Brexit at the border.
Duncan Buchanan, policy director for the RHA in England and Wales, met Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove, Home Secretary Priti Patel and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps at the Port of Dover.
He said: “I think people under-estimate the scale of the complexity of it.”
Speaking about potential delays in Dover in a no-deal scenario, he said: “I believe the reasonable best-case scenario that authorities are working on is between 24- and 48-hour delays on all vehicles.
“All vehicles, all lorries going through the port. I think that’s possibly optimistic. “I think it’s actually certainly optimistic.” He added that another concern is that there is no provision for how vans are going to be dealt with.
“We have huge road delays. We have serious problems. If a lorry is caught up 24 hours on the motorway, where does the driver go to the toilet?
“They’re putting in no welfare provisions whatsoever. This is absolutely outrageous that drivers can be treated like they’re completely unimportant. There needs to be proper facilities for drivers so that their welfare is looked after,” he said.
Mr Buchanan said there are 60 working days to get this sorted, adding: “It needs to be done as a matter of speed.”
Operation Brock has already been deployed to keep the M20 open in both directions in Kent. In the event of disruption in Dover, lorries travelling to mainland Europe will be held on the coastbound carriageway, while a contraflow system will operate across other lanes.
The previous method for dealing with lorries queuing, known as Operation Stack, meant sections of the motorway were closed and caused chaos for local journeys.
Meanwhile, Mr Gove has said the Government is doing “everything possible” to ensure Britain is ready to leave the EU at the end of October “come what may”.
Mr Gove said he was confident the country’s food system would be able to cope if the UK was unable to strike a new agreement. He said ministers were constantly talking to industry and suppliers about what measures were needed.
However he acknowledged that it would require the co-operation of EU countries like France if trade was to continue to flow smoothly after a no-deal Brexit.
“I think it’s important we work with the French and others to ensure the smoothest possible exit from the EU,” he said.