Will I have to give birth by the side of the road?
VANESSA Challess should have been putting her feet up in the eighth month of her pregnancy.
But instead she is worried she will have to give birth at the roadside because of traffic delays caused by Operation Stack.
The lawyer, 39, who is classed as high-risk, is supposed to go to a hospital just off the M20, which is currently being used as a lorry park due to strikes and migrant rioting in Calais.
But, because her previous labour lasted only 90 minutes, she fears the traffic will mean she ends up giving birth in an ambulance without consultants on hand.
The mother of two is one of many Kent residents who have had their daily lives disrupted by the police operation to control the traffic gridlock caused by the chaos across the Channel.
Lorries were backed up again yesterday after plans to introduce a contraflow system to ease the burden on the county were ruled out because of safety fears.
There were around 3,600 lorries caught up in Operation Stack last night, according to Kent Police.
The operation will now continue indefinitely, bringing misery to residents, businesses and holidaymakers. For 24 of the past 40 days, the coast-bound side of the M20 has been closed.
Police have said the mayhem is likely to continue into the weekend, providing no respite for those who live and work in the county. Businesses there are estimated to be losing £1.5million a day.
The tourism industry is paying a heavy price. Leeds Castle in Kent, Dover Castle and Canterbury Cathedral have all reported a dramatic drop in visitor numbers.
Miss Challess and her husband Romeo Toullaj, 27, of Maidstone, and their two children Jemima, six, and Lolly, four, worry that she will have to give birth in an ambulance.
‘It took just 90 minutes from start to finish when I had my last child and I really don’t want to give birth in an ambulance on the M20,’ she said. ‘As I am high-risk, I need to be at a hospital with access to consultants and not on a motorway.
‘I should be calm before the birth of my third child but instead I am stressed. It makes me extremely anxious to think of what could happen if there are complications.’
Melissa Swan, who lives in the village of Sellindge by the M20, is in a similar situation. She is nearly eight months pregnant and is worried about how she will get to hospital when she goes into labour if Operation Stack is still in place.
She said the gridlocked traffic in the village meant ambulances would take at least 45 minutes to get to her and then back out of the village. Her chef husband Grant, 27, cannot drive, so she fears she may end up driving herself to hospital while in labour.
Kate Parlett, 69, said she has struggled to look after her husband Bill, 71, who has dementia, because his carers have been delayed.
‘It means I have struggled to get him ready on time and then to run all my errands that I usually do while the carers are in,’ the retired computer worker said.
‘Also, it has taken me three times as long as usual to get to the doctor for my husband’s appointment.’
Operation Stack is also having a huge effect on lonely pensioners who find it difficult to go shopping or socialise. Widow Christine Shafe, 67, said she had become a ‘prisoner’ in her own home. The retired medical secretary, of West Hythe, Kent, said: ‘It’s difficult for older people to get out and we just don’t bother when the traffic is backed up.’
The operation has also had a huge impact on Kent businesses. Sara Quested, who runs salon Hair Request in Sellindge, said she was losing money as her customers simply could not get to her.
‘ The business is struggling because I have had so many cancellations,’ the 33-year-old said. ‘The traffic is so bad that they can’t even get down the street without it taking 45 minutes. I have taken about half of what I usually had since the operation began.’ Among other problems caused by Operation Stack were mourners unable to get to a funeral and chemotherapy patients said to be missing their appointments, according to locals.
Sellindge residents also described how lorry drivers were pulling up at a layby in the village and urinating in nearby hedges after lengthy waits on the motorway.
A Highways England spokesman said it would ‘urgently review’ other options to ease the congestion.
This is an ‘unprecedented’ use of Operation Stack, according to the Freight Transport Association.
The FTA’s Natalie Chapman, said: ‘It’s been a huge inconvenience before. But the people of Kent and the haulage companies put up with it because it’s just for a short time. This year has changed that.’