Thousands of trucks and vans have been stranded in southern England. Drivers are only allowed to continue on their way to France with a negative Corona test. Many are threatened with Christmas in a traffic jam.
By Imke Koehler, ARD-Studio London
There should be several Covid test stations for truck drivers, one of them at the former Manston airfield, where trucks have had to park in recent days. Even now that France has reopened the border in Calais, those stranded on the other side of the English Channel will have to be patient. The backwater cannot be resolved immediately.
While the government speaks of 4,000 trucks stuck in Dover and the surrounding area, the Road Haulage Association (RHA), the trade association for road transport, speaks of 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles – that could include the vans.
Difficult chase after the test
First of all, the question now is how quickly the truck drivers and couriers can get a test. This German DHL messenger has so far failed with the attempt. He was only sent from one place to another. “I hope to get a test. The people at the Covid test center in Manston told me I had to go to Margate and they told me I had to go back to Manston,” he says. “I really don’t know what to do.”
The man had brought a delivery to Liverpool and then never returned to the continent. He would like to be home for Christmas, but the situation is catastrophic, he says.
Isolation in the cab
Basically, for those who have done a Covid rapid test, a result should be available after 30 minutes, which the truck driver then receives on the mobile phone. If the result is negative, they could head towards Calais – if not, they would have to stay on the island, explains Robert Jenrick, British Minister for Housing and Local Government.
“If they test positive, they’ll be offered a lab test, and then they’ll likely self-isolate in their cab until they get the result,” says Jenrick. If the test was positive again, they would have to go into quarantine in a hotel nearby. “During the night we procured the first hotel that should offer enough capacity at least for the next few days.”
Just a taste of January?
Jenrick does not want to let the UK see even more such scenes when the Brexit transition phase comes to an end in eight days. There is no reason why something like this should happen in the future, said the minister. It is in the interests of all sides to keep borders open.
Jenrick instead pointed out that the current case shows Britain’s good preparation: “The fact that we have been able to react very quickly to a very unusual situation suggests that preparations are being made for the end of the transition period were correct and largely effective. “
Duncan Buchanan from the RHA comes to a completely different view. With a view to the turn of the year, he said that this was the beginning of a very, very serious interruption in the supply chain – in a form the British have probably never seen before.
