#UKs #Truss #urges #France #act #Dover #delays #Britains #summer #holiday #ReadSector
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Friday urged Paris to take action to reduce “unacceptable” delays at the Channel port of Dover, where officials accused understaffing of French border troops “ruined” summer holidays with hour-long queues.
Bosses at the port – Britain’s main gateway to mainland Europe – declared a “critical incident” and urged travelers taking advantage of the school closure this week to reconsider their trips as ferry companies warned of six-hour waits.
“Lamentably inadequate ruins on the French border begin the summer holiday,” the port said in a statement.
“Despite the Port of Dover… preparing for the busy summer period over several months, we are deeply frustrated that overnight and early morning resources at the French border were grossly inadequate.”
Passengers must pass through border controls carried out by French officials in Dover before boarding a ferry bound for northern France.
Most English schools start their summer holidays this week, making it one of the busiest times to travel across the English Channel.
Later on Friday, Truss – who is embroiled in a summer-long battle with former Treasury Secretary Rishi Sunak to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson – risked sparking a diplomatic spat when she branded the “horrific” situation as “entirely avoidable”.
“We need action from France to build capacity at the border to limit further disruption to British tourists and ensure this appalling situation is avoided in the future,” she said in a statement.
– ‘Technical Incident’ –
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps adopted a more moderate tone, tweeting that he was “working closely” with his French counterpart “to address the problems that have caused congestion”.
“I welcome his commitment that both Britain and France will work closely together to minimize further disruption so people can escape quickly,” he added.
Earlier, French authorities insisted they had anticipated the increased holiday traffic and set plans for maximum staffing levels on Friday morning.
But they blamed an “unexpected technical incident” in the Channel Tunnel for delaying the arrival of French staff by more than an hour, leading to the backlogs.
“The flow of traffic in the Port of Dover is a shared responsibility of various stakeholders, including in particular the shipping companies, the Port of Dover and the British authorities,” said Georges-Francois Leclerc, prefect of the country’s northernmost Hauts-de-France region.
He added in a statement that French officials will “continue to work closely with everyone to manage expected exceptional traffic” in the coming days.
Within hours, Eurotunnel, which operates train services for vehicles across the English Channel, dismissed the statement, saying it was “not responsible for the critical incident and situation at Dover”.
It noted in a brief statement that the disruption had started there in the early hours of Friday morning, while many hours later a “minor signaling problem” had emerged in the Eurotunnel.
– ‘Heavy traffic’ –
Port of Dover chief executive Doug Bannister told BBC Radio the situation had improved as the day progressed and traffic was beginning to ease.
But he admitted he didn’t know how long it would take to clear the backlog.
Aerial photos of the port showed about eight lanes of slow-moving traffic traveled about 300 meters, while other images posted online showed cars queuing in the city of Dover and long lines of trucks on a nearby motorway.
“Please note that there is heavy traffic at the Port of Dover border control,” P&O Ferries told passengers.
“If you are traveling for today, please allow at least six hours to clear all security checks.”
Twitter users complained that there was a total standstill while waiting for the ferries.
“I’m booked on the 8am ferry from Dover and it’s deadlocked. I was moving at 50 meters per hour,” wrote one.
“At this rate, it will take me 34 hours to reach the port!”
Dover and the surrounding roads have previously been a bottleneck for delays since Britain left the European Union, its single market and customs union.
The queues have been attributed to increased controls and additional paperwork for freight.
Local Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke said there had been “weeks of preparation” for the tourist season, much of it with French colleagues.
“Nevertheless, the French border guards did not show up for work at the passport controls as necessary.” She said.
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