15-mile queues at Dover as France tightens checks

Extra scrutiny by French officials after terror atrocities together with empty border posts strand thousands on UK side of Channel

DEFENCE CORRESPONDENT TENS of thousands of holidaymakers escaping to the Continent faced delays of up to 14 hours yesterday as new security restrictions in the wake of this summer’s terror attacks reduced the seasonal getaway to chaos.

Traffic heading to the Port of Dover created an estimated 15 miles of tailbacks as French border officials struggled to cope with controls that were tightened after the Nice truck atrocity.

A helicopter from the National Police Air Service was used to help carry water to marooned families on one of the busiest weekends of the year.

Holidaymakers slept in cars overnight as low staffing meant fewer than half the French border control booths were open.

Meanwhile, shopping centres reviewed their security preparations after the murder of nine people by a mall gunman in Munich. Sources said his rampage would trigger an assessment of further protection for UK shoppers.

Last night motorists were told to expect delays of up to 12 hours on the A20/M20, plus two hours at the port.

Port of Dover officials warned that the delays were likely to continue until Monday.

Renata Roslak had left Birmingham at 7pm on Friday with her husband but by yesterday morning they had still not reached the port.

“It’s absolutely horrendous. We have maybe moved half a mile in eight hours,” she said. “There isn’t even anywhere to turn around and head home.

“I even phoned the police to find out what was happening – we were told that there weren’t enough staff to cope with the extra security checks, so ferries are leaving but they aren’t full.”

Kate Bradley said: “Thousands of people stuck in their cars overnight outside Dover. Total chaos.” Edgars Cerapanovs, who also had driven from Birmingham with his family, said he had been in the traffic jam for 14 hours: “We only live two-and-a-half hours from here. It’s been terrible. I don’t know why it’s so bad.”

Port of Dover officials blamed French understaffing of checks on the UK side of the Channel for the delay. At one point, only three of the seven booths were manned.

French officials have started checking the individual passports of all passengers on every coach, meaning it was taking up to 40 minutes to clear a single vehicle, travellers said.

A spokesman for the Port of Dover said yesterday: “We have been experiencing an exceptional security situation at French border controls. French border authorities have been operating at a heightened level of security.

“However, the French border control booths have been seriously understaffed overnight.

“At one stage, only one French officer was available to check passengers on hundreds of coaches, resulting in each coach taking 40 minutes to process.

“The Port of Dover, which has no authority over French border operations, raised concerns over French manning levels with the UK Government earlier this week and the Government, in turn, raised the issue with its French counterparts.”

After Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a 19-ton lorry into Bastille Day crowds in Nice, murdering 84 people, Britain announced a review of all major public events. Sources said barriers to stop potential attackers would be considered, as well as a review of the number of armed police on standby.

European countries have also increased their police activity and heightened surveillance. German federal police said airports, cross-border rail networks and land crossings would have extra security.

Will Geddes, a security and terrorism expert, said an assault by Islamist militants on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi in September 2013 in which 71 people died had alerted bosses of malls around the world.

Mr Geddes said: “In terms of shopping centres, the big threshold moment came as a result of the Westgate massacre in Kenya. That was pretty much the first incident where it was deemed as a considerable concern in terms of planning for some type of ‘crazy’ coming in and becoming an active shooter or taking hostages.”

Since then, Government national counter-terrorism advisers have been touring shopping centres suggesting to owners where and how to tighten their security.

Mr Geddes said many of the extra measures would not be seen by shoppers. He said one key part of such security was to spot suspects who were carrying out reconnaissance while working up to an attack.

But he said that specific security measures such as bag checks or scanners were more likely to be brought in only as a result of specific intelligence about an assault plot.

He said: “If you go to a shopping centre tomorrow and you see extra security staff, that might also be the shopping centre saying, ‘Hey, we have got it under control here. We have got lots of Jams as far as the eye can see in the Port of Dover, above, and on the A20 approach to the town above its White Cliffs yesterday, pictured right, were blamed by local officials on ‘exceptional security’ and undermanning of UK-based French border checkpoints security’.” Britain’s shopping centres have repeatedly been targeted by bombers in the past.

The IRA attacked city targets in Manchester, London and Warrington during its mainland campaigns. In 2007, five plotters linked to al-Qaeda were jailed for life over a conspiracy to use a fertiliser bomb to blow up sites including the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. Abid Naseer was jailed last year for an al-Qaeda plot to attack Manchester city centre sites such as the Manchester Arndale on a busy Easter bank holiday weekend.