MP pays visit

MP Damian Green visited the lorry park on Friday to assess the situation.

“I thought I would do some private investigation,” he said.

“The big issue now is whether the export system will cope when we get back to completely full freight levels because we are getting there but are not there yet.

“The key, which I am encouraging ministers to make sure happens, is that more and more drivers get their Covid tests outside Kent.

“It’s now just started going to satisfactory levels – about 60% are getting it before they come to Kent – but the more publicity there is for it, the better.

“There will come a point where just the normal operation at Sevington will fill it up and if you get hundreds of truck drivers trying to have tests there, that’s when we might get danger signals in the future.

“I imagine the Covid tests will be with us for a few months yet at least.”

Work started on the 66-acre ‘Sevington Inland Border Facility’ in July after the government snapped up the site in a secret deal.

But the plot won’t be fully operational until the end of February as heavy rain has delayed construction.

It will be able to hold up to 1,700 trucks once complete.