Kent travel chaos: is there a fix and should Brexit take the blame?
Travel gridlock hit the Kent roads around Dover and Folkestone again over the weekend as British tourists were confronted with the realities of travelling to the EU during a busy period for the first time since Brexit came into force in January 2021.
It was a miserable start to a holiday on the continent with queues of five to six hours, and travellers were warned the disruption is set to continue through the summer.
What is the cause? Could it have been avoided and is there a fix?
In short, the big increase in post-pandemic travel combined with Brexit passport checks.
The weekend after British state schools break for the summer in July is the busiest single weekend for the port of Dover.
But this was the first time since Brexit that the new restrictions for entry to the EU had been tested to their limit.
This time last year, although lockdown restrictions had been lifted, passenger numbers were a fraction of normal volumes, and the British government had imposed an “amber plus” restriction on travel from France requiring holidaymakers to quarantine on their return to Britain.
The port of Dover experienced a fivefold increase in car numbers year on year.
On Friday it said it handled 11,000 cars, up from 1,200 on the equivalent Friday in 2021.
On Saturday it handled just under 12,000 cars, compared with 2,400 this time last year, and 10,000 cars on Sunday compared with 1,900 on the equivalent Sunday in 2021.
Yes. The Dover chief executive, Doug Bannister, told LBC it was “absolutely true” that Brexit was to blame for the extreme delays caused by a new requirement to stamp British passports.
The port had been preparing for months for the increase in traveller numbers but said it was let down by unexpected French border staff
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