Brexit’s 2-minute border bombshell

That’s the extra time it could t ake to check lorries at a ‘frictionless’ Dover border... causing t ailbacks 30 MILES long

DRIVERS crossing the Channel after Brexit could face five-hour waits in 30-mile tailbacks because of increased border checks.

The alarming forecast by scientists from Imperial College London is based on assuming officials will take two extra minutes to conduct customs and passport checks for each vehicle.

And the so-called ‘smart borders’ proclaimed by Brexiteers as the frictionless solution t o crossChannel chaos will not eliminate the queues for ferries at Dover or the Eurotunnel at Folkstone, experts in Europe say.

The current average time for a vehicle to pass through passport and customs controls is about two minutes. But once Britain has left the EU, passports may have to be checked individually against EU databases and trucks carrying goods could be forced to fill out lengthy customs declarations and have the paperwork stamped.

Truckers carrying any meat products may be required to have their cargo doors opened and the meat examined, while vets would have to inspect livestock.

And because lorries often carry multiple consignments of goods in a single load, if the paperwork for one shipment is not compliant, it raises the possibility of lengthy delays while the offending goods are removed from the truck.

Even if all that adds up to only two more minutes at the border – making a total of four minutes – it would result in tailbacks of 29.3 miles on the A20 and M20 from Maidstone to Dover at peak time, and the 40-mile journey would take five hours.

Researchers, led by Dr Ke Han and commissioned by the BBC’s Inside Out programme, simulated various delays at Dover and the Eurotunnel check-in at Folkestone using computer modelling.

Factoring various additional minutes of delays at the port led to a ‘cascade of congestion’, according to Dr Han’s team.

Even an extra minute’s delay at Dover or Folkestone would lead to a 20-mile queue on the roads leading to the Channel ports, stretching the journey between Maidstone and Dover to three-and-a-half hours. An

‘The delays will lead to a cascade of congestion’

additional four minutes – six in total – would cause a horrific crawl of eight hours between Maidstone and Dover at peak times.

Alarmingly, a recent official EU study found that even on the ‘smart border’ between Norway and Sweden, truckers are delayed on average between two and nine minutes while they complete formalities.

Pauline Bastidon, head of European policy at the Freight Trans- port Association, said haulage firms needed clarity.

‘ I’m worried on behalf of our members – there’s only a year left,’ she said. ‘Even the transition period isn’t legally binding yet.’

She called for schemes allowing customs and other checks to take place inland, reducing pressure on the port and Eurotunnel terminal.

But she added: ‘Outside of the single market and the customs union, there is no such thing as a 100 per cent frictionless border.’

John Keefe, the spokesman for Getlink – the new name for Eurotunnel – said there was no space at Folkestone or Dover for vehicles to be taken for extra checks and Theresa May’s promise to make the border ‘as frictionless as possible’ didn’t go far enough.

‘The only way to run this is completely frictionless – the Channel Tunnel is a non-stop rolling motorway and if you stop any vehicle, you get delays,’ he said.

The knock-on effect could cripple industry, Mr Keefe added.

A Treasury spokesman said last night: ‘We want to have a customs arrangement that ensures trade with the EU is as frictionless as possible. The final arrangements will depend on the negotiations with the EU.’