Among the first in the line to board, Frédéric, a truck driver from Brest (Finistère) will be able to leave England after three days stranded in Portsmouth harbor. “When the border closed, I was in the middle of the English Channel , he explains. If I had known, I would have let my trailer cross alone. “
Closed Sunday December 20, due to a more contagious variant of Covid-19 in the United Kingdom, the border with France was partially opened the following Tuesday evening.
Compulsory tests
To be able to leave the country, the thousands of stranded truckers must undergo an antigen test provided free of charge by the British authorities. In Portsmouth, stranded lorry drivers describe an atmosphere “Good child” .
Wednesday, December 23, the seven rotations of theArmorique and you Normandie of Brittany Ferries evacuated a thousand people. Ltense is more acute at the old Manston airfield, near Dover, where 3,800 trucks were assembled. Without toilets or food, drivers awaiting tests had heated discussions with the police.
“The shortfall is enormous”
“The situation will take longer to unblock than the blockage itself , concedes the Ministry of Transport. The British authorities are cooperative. “
For their part, transport companies are worried about the future. “Three of my five trucks were stranded there for several days. The shortfall is enormous ” , explains Franck Grimaldi, head of a road transport company in Morlaix (Finistère).
“We will have to discuss with our customers to continue deliveries , indicates Ludovic Calarnou, manager of Transports Mesguen in Saint-Pol-de-Léon (Finistère). We will call on volunteer drivers for this weekend. We are also going to organize ourselves with English companies to send single trailers there. “
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