French border checks cause 7-hour delays at UK port

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
1 Apr 2023 17:42

Huge delays have been occurring more frequently since Brexit took place having put an end to free movement from Britain to EU member states.

Passengers queue for ferries at the Port of Dover in Kent, England, on July 21, 2022 (AP)

Dover port authorities confirmed the presence of massive delays for those traveling from the UK to France by coach or train as a result of lengthy French border checks on Saturday which is the first day of the Easter holidays.

Huge delays have been occurring more frequently since Brexit took place having put an end to free movement from Britain to EU member states such as France.

According to DFDS, a ferry company, the waiting time that passengers endured before boarding the ferries on Friday was approximately seven hours, however, tourist cars were "waiting several hours... but are getting through OK," as per Dover port authorities.

Freight traffic has not been impacted by the delays, but a statement by the authorities showed that "the Port of Dover is deeply frustrated by last night's and this morning's situation."

Last year in July, when Liz Truss was serving as UK PM, she laid the blame on France, insisting that "the French authorities have not put enough people on the border."

But the French rejected claims that the gridlock was caused by understaffing. At the time, French lawmaker Pierre-Henri Dumont, whose constituency includes the French Channel port of Calais, called the travel chaos "an aftermath of Brexit."

"We have to run more checks than before," he said, predicting that it would keep happening. As per French lawmakers now, checks have a longer duration because of the UK's "third-country" status outside the EU.

Brexit has taken its toll on the UK, amid skyrocketing cost of living and inflation, as an underwhelming one-third of UK citizens that voted in favor of the "Brexit" deal in 2016 still consider they took the right decision.

A YouGov poll, published by The Times newspaper in December, revealed that only 34% of those who voted for the country to exit the European Union still think it was the right move, while 19% of the surveyed regretted their vote.

Another YouGov survey back in November found that 56% of UK citizens believed that their country's decision to leave the EU was a mistake.