H3OOUR QUEUE
»»Misery of travellers waiting to get to Dover »»Brits warned chaos could last all summer
FRUSTRATED holidaymakers were warned travel misery could last all summer yesterday – as one traveller reported waiting 30 hours trying to get to Europe.
Vehicles were once again bumper to bumper as huge queues of cars waited to get to Dover and the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone.
There were also around 3,000 lorries parked on the M20 as 10,000 cars passed through Dover.
Some lorry drivers reported being held up for
“well over 18 hours” but one man told the BBC he had been waiting 30 hours to make the crossing.
Stuck travellers told how it was taking several hours just to move two miles in Kent.
Pictures posted online showed people walking their dogs on the M20 while one family was seen playing badminton in the traffic jams to pass the time.
Ex-policeman Paul Nicholas, 76, from Brockenhurst,
Hants, who was on his way to Cologne with wife Wendy,
68, said: “The journey went superbly until we were just two miles from the Holiday Inn in Folkestone. It was absolutely chock-a-block. We tried some country roads and they were all solidly blocked. It’s been a disaster.”
Port of Dover chiefs blamed Friday’s delays on a lack of French border officials. Yesterday they said French border staff had been “fully mobilised” to clear the backlog.
His comments were backed up by Port of Dover chief Doug Bannister, who said it must be recognised that there will be “increased transaction times” at the border due to extra checks needed. Local MP Natalie Elphicke said “long, long delays” were expected again and insisted the French authorities “should apologise to Dover residents and holidaymakers for the unnecessary holiday chaos at the start of the getaway”.
But French Calais MP Pierre-Henri Dumont said: “This is an aftermath of Brexit. We have to run more checks than before.”
His comments were backed up by Port of Dover chief Doug Bannister, who said it must be recognised that there will be “increased transaction times” at the border due to extra checks needed.
M Dumont also said the UK government had “rejected a few months ago a proposal to double the number of passport booths” for French police in Dover.
This weekend is one of the busiest periods for travel as most schools in England and Wales have broken up for summer.
There were also huge queues at Heathrow, Gatwick and Bristol airports.
scoops@sundaymirror.co.uk