Calais strike is costing us £250m a day, say officials

THE strike by French ferry workers which has left the Port of Calais closed for more than three days is costing the UK more than £250 million a day.

The blockade has led to severe disruption on both sides of the Channel.

Officials at the Port of Dover, which sees £100 billion of trade go through its docks each year, have revealed that the chaos is costing the UK hundreds of millions of pounds a day.

More than 5,000 lorry drivers are queued in a 17-mile stretch of the M20 in Kent as part of Operation Stack.

Thousands of bottles of water and snack packs are being handed out to drivers as they face an indefinite wait to board ferries and shuttle trains.

On Wednesday 34 miles of road had to be closed, leaving up to 5,000 drivers trapped in their lorries on the hottest July day on record.

Local authority officers said yesterday that £50,000 of humanitarian aid has gone towards helping those affected.

Officials have predicted that the economic impact of the strike will be felt well into the weekend, describing the overall cost to UK taxpayers as being “big bucks”.

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, and her French counterpart, Bernard Cazeneuve, have agreed to invest extra money to tackle the problems caused by migrants at Calais attempting to cross the Channel.

The Home Office would not comment on how much extra money would be committed to the fund.

Up to 3,000 migrants camping near the French port have been taking advantage of slow-moving and queuing traffic by trying to board UK-bound vehicles.

The UK agreed in September last year to pay €5 million a year for three years to a joint intervention fund. This will now be increased.