Lots of travel and extra border controls due to Brexit have led to long traffic jams in Britain on the way across the Channel to France. Travelers had to wait six hours before continuing south, according to British media. Unions, port authorities and the French authorities agreed on Saturday that the main reason for this was Britain’s departure from the EU. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, on the other hand, blamed France.
Cars and trucks waited for miles in Dover harbour. On Saturday, the ferry company P&O Ferries said it would take three to four hours to get into port and go through security checks. On Friday there were six and more.
French border authorities are understaffed, said Truss, who wants to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Paris must do something “to resolve the dire situation facing travelers, including families.”
Accident delayed arrival of additional officials
The prefect of the Hauts-de-France region, Georges-François Leclerc, said France has “done its job” by increasing its border staff in Dover from 120 to 200 people. But due to an accident on Friday, French border officials arrived late at their posts in Dover. This caused delays. French Transport Minister Clément Beaune said French authorities had been “mobilized” to facilitate traffic. However, France is “not responsible for Brexit”.
With the UK’s departure from the European Union, border controls and additional formalities for freight traffic were reintroduced. In recent months there have been frequent traffic jams at the entrance to the port of Dover, especially for trucks. In addition, there is now holiday traffic, which was not so pronounced last summer due to numerous corona restrictions.
French MP Pierre-Henri Dumont, whose constituency includes the French canal port of Calais, also called the travel chaos “a consequence of Brexit”. “We need to carry out more checks than before,” he told the BBC. There will always be traffic jams.
The port director of Dover, Doug Bannister, initially spoke of a shortage of French border guards. However, he acknowledged that there are now “increased transaction times” after Brexit. Lucy Moreton of Britain’s ISU trade union, which represents border, immigration and customs officials, said the traffic jams were a “fairly predictable” consequence of Britain’s exit from the EU.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
