The long lines of vehicles waiting to cross the English Channel next to the English port of Dover continue this Saturday, and the main shipping company that operates the ferries has warned travelers to plan to arrive at least four hours in advance to cross the controls.
“Please be aware that there is heavy traffic at border control at the Port of Dover. If you are booked to travel today, please allow at least 3-4 hours to get through security checks,” the P&O company said in a statement. your Twitter account.
The shipping company, in any case, assured that everyone with a ticket will be embarked on the first ferry that leaves once it has reached the “check-in”.
France and UK blame each other for traffic jams at Dover – Photo: STUART BROCK
It is estimated that up to 3,000 trucks are parked on the M20, the main road to the south-east of England.
The CEO of the port of Dover, Doug Bannister, acknowledged today in statements to the BBC that they always expected that today, Saturday, the first day of the school holidays in the United Kingdom, was going to be “the busiest day”.
After yesterday accusing France of not having deployed a sufficient number of border police to speed up border controls, Bannister pointed out that today an adequate number of agents has been mobilized from the first hour, so it is not likely that they will be repeated the same traffic jams as on Friday.
Despite everything, he said that Friday’s collapse is still being eased and warned that there are a “large number of trucks on the M20”, which could hamper the operation.
Bannister admitted that since the departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit) there is “a tougher border” and that although the border police do their job at full capacity “it costs more work” to ensure the crossing of vehicles.
“On busy days we always had congestion, my hope is that we don’t see anything of the severity of yesterday,” he added.
The British Foreign Minister, Liz Truss, harshly criticized the delays originating in Dover on Friday and urged the French government to “act” to end the long lines of vehicles.
“This horrible situation should have been totally avoidable and it is unacceptable. We need France to act to reinforce capacity at the border, to limit any future disruption to British tourists and to ensure that this appalling situation is avoided in the future,” Truss said in a statement. a statement.
For his part, Pierre-Henri Dumont, MP for Calais, has denounced these traffic jams as a “consequence of Brexit” and has taken it for granted that they will happen again in the short to medium term.
Dumont also lamented that the port of Dover was too small and that there were too few posts for border staff due to lack of space, according to Sky News.
The situation in the French port of Calais, where the vehicles that make the reverse journey embark, is completely normal, without queues, according to P&O Ferries.
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