Holidaymakers face another day of gridlock at Dover Eurotunnel
British holidaymakers trying to drive to France are facing another day of gridlock in the lead up to the Dover Eurotunnel amid warnings that this could be the new normal.
Drivers have been forced to wait hours in queue again, with traffic snaking back to the M20 in Folkestone, Kent.
The UK government is blaming the chaos on French authorities for not stationing more border guards in Dover as the summer rush starts.
Paris has said that there is a requirement for more rigorous passport checks post-Brexit and that the UK’s new traffic management system was not working.
The UK’s former ambassador to France Lord Peter Ricketts told The Observer that the “shortage of French border force officials is a short-term, tactical problem”.
“The long-term, serious issue is that this is the first time we’ve seen the full pressure on the border after Brexit,” he said.
“Even if it was a full complement of the French border force there would still be massive delays, because Dover port can’t cope with the volume.
“The underlying reality is that no matter how many they have, given the size of the port, given the fact that the government failed to invest in expanding the facilities, it is going to be like this – this will be the new normal.”
Both Tory leadership candidates, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, have gone public today to blame French authorities for the travel chaos.
Sunak said the French government “need to stop blaming Brexit and start getting the staff required to match demand”, while Truss added “the French authorities have not put enough people on the border and we need to see action from then to resolve the terrible situation”.
French foreign minister Catherine Colonna said she had a “good talk” with Truss, the foreign secretary, and that she “welcomed the cooperation between our competent technical services to reduce the delays”.