Virus-linked isolation of UK eases but backlog remains
Gridlock DOVER,ENGLAND— at an English port kept thousands of truckers and travelers stranded Wednesday despite a deal with France to lift a two-day blockade imposed because of a new variant of the coronavirus that had isolated Britain and raised fears of food shortages.
Some goods and passengersbeganarrivingonFrench shoresinthemorning, thanks to an agreement that allows people with a negative virus test tocross theChannelfrom Britain. But officialswarned the backlogwould take days to clear, and some truckers scuffled with police as huge lines of vehicles persisted at the port of Dover.
“Lookingaround, itdoesn’t really seem that there’s a lot ofprogressbeingmadehere,” said Ben Richtzenhaim, a financialservicesworkerwho drove overnight from Scotland inhopesof gettinghome to Germany by car. “People are still notmoving out of the way, and the authorities are not doing something either. So it’s a real deadlock.”
Some suggested the chaos was a precursor towhat Britain may face if it doesn’t come to a trade agreement with the European Union before it leaves the bloc’s economic embrace on Dec. 31.
Soldiers and contact-tracers were being deployed to administer virus tests, but drivers — some who have been stuck near English ports for three days with limited access to food and toilet facilities — say that has been delayed by traffic in the area. Germany’s ambassador to Britain, Andreas Michaelis, said on Twitter that he tried to get to a disused airportwhere trucks had been
parked to talk to drivers — but couldn’t get through and was forced to speak to them by phone instead.
British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said testing had begun but acknowledged there were “severe delays.”
Nations around theworld began barring people from Britain over the weekend after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that scientists said a new version of the virus whipping around LondonandEngland’s southeastmaybemorecontagious. The announcement added to anxieties at a time when Europe has been walloped by soaring new virus infections and deaths.
Some European countries relaxed restrictions on Britain on Wednesday, though many remain in place. Still, it was France’s ban on freight that caused the most alarm, since the U.K. relies heavily on its cross-Channel commercial links to the continent for food at this time of year, especially fresh fruit and vegetables.
AssociatedPress reporters sawa ferry fromBritain pulling into the French port of Calais before dawnWednesday, and rail operator Eurotunnel
said some trains carrying freight and car passengers were allowed to cross to the continent beneath the English Channel again.
But Jean-March Puissesseau, director of the Calais-Boulogne port, said he didn’t expect freight trucks to begin arriving there until later Wednesday, though two cargo vans and some passenger cars had come by ferry. The port normally brings in up to 4,000 trucks a day.
Fears of food shortages added to an already glum runup to Christmas in Britain, where authorities have scaledbackor canceled plans to relax restrictions for the holiday as daily virus infections soar and many hospitals are nearing capacity. Many Britons were already bracing for disruption, if the U.K. and the EU can’t agree on a new trade deal by the time the country leaves the bloc’s tariff-free single market and customs union in just over a week.
French authorities have insisted that the blockade was based on scientific concerns and not politics, but some noted it may have offered a glimpse of what Britain can expect next year.