Nightmare as roads to Dover are jammed solid

Hell for motorists as French border police struggle to cope with start of holiday rush

Motorists heading for Dover faced spending the night in their cars after police warned delays could continue until today.

British officials are being drafted in to work with French border police after the Government admitted motorists had suffered “extraordinary disruption” at the port.

People travelling, many heading off for a summer break, spent hours at a standstill in queued traffic while police helped deliver water supplies by helicopter.

Kent Police said the disruption is down to a “vast volume of holiday traffic” coupled with delays caused by heightened security at the border in the wake of terror attacks.

Late on Saturday, after a full day of disruption, the Home Office said it would send in the UK Border Force to help French authorities at the UK port.

Increased checks were put in place by French authorities in light of recent terror attacks, but questions have been raised about staffing levels to deal with the huge increase in people travelling.

Port authorities said French border control booths at Dover had been “seriously understaffed overnight”, claiming coaches were at one point waiting 40 minutes each for passengers to be checked in as only one French officer was available.

A spokesman said concerns about staffing levels were raised with the Government earlier in the week, and said those had been passed to French authorities.

A Government spokeswoman said: “We recognise the security pressures that French law enforcement organisations are under at Dover and we have agreed the UK Border Force will assist the PAF (French border police) with border checks to remove the backlog.

“Measures are also being taken on the approach to the port where Kent Police will be proactively managing traffic to speed up the process.”

Conservative MP for Dover Charlie Elphicke, who was stuck in traffic for around two hours on Friday evening, said there had been a lack of forward planning which led to “poor transport management” and urged the Government to apologise for the “traffic nightmare”.

The jammed-up entrance to the Port of Dover as cars are backed up for miles.