Who’s guilty for the getaway from hell?
I’VE lived in Dover all my life, worked in the port for more than 40 years and every time there is gridlock — which we saw again at the weekend as families queued for up to 21 hours to go on summer holiday — trucks, buses and cars are stationary just 30 ft from my front door.
This recurring catastrophe is not the fault of the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel, ferry companies or local and county councils. Like me, they have lobbied for years for infrastructure improvement for the ports of Dover and Folkestone.
This is purely down to central government and Highways England, who for a decade have created the illusion of tackling this problem, but have achieved absolutely nothing. The sum of £250 million was allocated by the then Chancellor George Osborne in 2015 to resolve issues related to Operation Stack once and for all. Does anyone know where this money went? The infrastructure in relation to the Channel crossings is not fit for purpose. It is obvious to me that the first step must be to create two major truck stops on the M20 and A2 to remove vehicles from the road system.
Why has this not been done? Almost certainly because it would be unpopular politically, though it is essential to the nation’s economy. In addition, should French border checks, taking place in Dover Port and Eurotunnel and apparently the source of the weekend’s problems affecting holidaymakers, be returned to French soil, and likewise, the UK’s operation returned to Dover and Folkestone? If nothing else it might help the French officers get to work on time and make it easier to return illegal immigrants as we now allegedly have control of our own borders.
I hope the Government does not offer to hold a public inquiry into the situation as that will be no more than a delaying tactic. Surely it already has all the information it requires. We want and need urgent action.
MICK TEDDER, Dover, Kent. IT SEEMS it’s a lot easier to come to Britain by an inflatable dinghy than to leave by plane, train or ferry.
U. GING, Lowestoft, Suffolk. DID anyone who voted Brexit think we would still be waltzing into the EU without checks?