Flight, ferry, freight and rail chaos as EU bans UK

EU countries are banning flights and trains from the UK, while Dover ferry terminal has been closed for at least 48 hours, as foreign leaders panic about the spread of the mutant strain of Covid.

The flight, ferry and rail cancellations are expected to disrupt food supplies, Christmas gifts and even the Covid vaccine – as well as ruining the festive travel plans of around 250,000 Britons.

Boris Johnson is holding an emergency meeting of the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee this morning in response.

A No10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister will chair a COBR meeting to discuss the situation regarding international travel, in particular the steady flow of freight into and out of the UK.

“Further meetings will happen to ensure robust plans are in place.” The first country to announce a flight ban was the Netherlands, starting at 5am yesterday and lasting until January 1.

Other countries including Germany, Italy and Belgium soon followed suit.

But it was only when France closed its borders to the UK that Dover’s terminal had to be closed.

It is understood that the next delivery of the Pfizer vaccine is scheduled to arrive in Britain mid- week. Last night the Department of Health said it had contingency plans in place to airlift more supplies of the jab from Belgium to the UK using military aircraft if the freight ban stays in place for longer than 48 hours.

Contingency plans for getting essential medicines from the continent to the UK are also in place. Meanwhile Dover’s ferry terminal is closed to “all accompanied traffic leaving the UK” until at least tomorrow evening.

The Eurostar rail service said on its website last night that due to the French and Belgian border closures with the UK, it was unable to run any trains from London to Paris, Brussels, Lille or Amsterdam today or tomorrow.

It added: “We are also unable to run trains from Amsterdam, Brussels and Lille to London on these dates.”

Several countries outside the EU also banned flights from Britain including Israel and El Salvador. The mutant strain took hold in London and Kent, home to Dover.