The Conversation (0)
Kate Plummer
Jul 22, 2022
Natalie Elphicke claims traffic jams in Dover are because of Brussels bureaucracy ...
Indy
The Port of Dover has declared a "critical incident" due to five-hour queues leading to the ferry terminal and people are blaming Brexit.
The Port itself is blaming French authorities for being "insufficiently resourced" as it is understood only six of the 12 passport booths run by the French authorities at Dover are currently open, but people have other ideas.
The Port said: "The Dover route remains the most popular sea route to France and France remains one of the key holiday destinations for British families.
"We know that resource is finite, but the popularity of Dover is not a surprise. Regrettably, the PAF [police aux frontieres] resource has been insufficient and has fallen far short of what is required to ensure a smooth first weekend of the peak summer getaway period."
And Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said the French authorities "didn't turn up to work".
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
But The Independent's travel expert Simon Calder told Good Morning Britain pointed the finger at Brexit. "Since Brexit it's been necessary to have every single passport stamped at Dover. You might recall in the olden days you just sort of waved your passports at the French border police, they didn't show much interest.
"Now they are obliged to stamp your passport, as a result of that everything takes much longer".
Here are other ways people thought Brexit had something to do with the chaos:
\u201c\u2018Drivers warned of delays around Dover as summer getaway\u2019\n\nAnd the cause is? The BBC dare not speak its name.. #Brexit\n\nThis summer many people will face the reality of pointless border queues for the first time #Brexitreality \n\nJoin the \u2066@euromove\u2069 https://t.co/SGXxFn1qEs\u201d— Tim Riley \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa\ud83d\udc99 (@Tim Riley \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa\ud83d\udc99) 1658437507
\u201cDover Port whines as long queues form after checks those in the queue wanted implemented.\n\n#Brexit\u201d— Graham Leggett (@Graham Leggett) 1658476486
\u201cThe Port of Dover has declared a "critical incident" and blamed French border staff as huge traffic queues build up (LBC)\n\nI'm sorry @Port_of_Dover you are wrong to blame the French. This is due to the UK's #Brexit. Please apologize for lying and tell people the truth.\u201d— \ud83c\udff3\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Frank \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@\ud83c\udff3\u200d\ud83c\udf08 Frank \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1658474167
\u201cPort of Dover has declared a \u201ccritical incident\u201d this morning and is advising people not \u201ceven to attempt\u201d to go to the port because of 4 hour plus delays, getting worse \n\nBrexit dividend?\u201d— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew Adonis) 1658475599
\u201cDover.\n100% Brexit problem.\nNothing else, purely a bad knock on effect of leaving the EU.\n\nAll of a sudden, the first high demand, what was a free moving busy port is now subject to Non EU regulation.\n\nNot France's problem.\n\nWhat did people expect?\n\nProject Fear now Project Here.\u201d— SmoggyPower\ud83c\udfed (@SmoggyPower\ud83c\udfed) 1658478936
\u201cThe chaos at Dover is not the fault of French border control. \n\nIt\u2019s the entirely predictable result of Brexit.\u201d— Siobhan Benita \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf3b (@Siobhan Benita \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udf3b) 1658475488
\u201cDover is blaming the French for not having enough resources to check and stamp all the passports prior to boarding, which is a problem entirely caused by #Brexit, voted for by Dover. I\u2019m done with this idiocy.\u201d— Brendan May (@Brendan May) 1658475819
\u201cBlaming French for #Dover choas is peak #Brexit delusion. What happens in runup to August in France? Everyone goes on holiday. So shortage of French Customs is no surprise. UK never noticed because? We were in EU & effectively no border.\n#r4today #PoliticsLive #politicsUK\u201d— Fat (@Fat) 1658477498
\u201cThis is not the fault of the French. This is the fault of the #ToryBrexitDisaster\nDon't blame anyone else.\n#ToryCriminalsUnfitToGovern\n\nhttps://t.co/zYaZTbrJPV\u201d— Rod French #FBPE \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 #GTTO (@Rod French #FBPE \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 #GTTO) 1658473865
It is by no means the first time Dover has been hit with long queues - they became headline news in February and May this year but politicians have not pointed to Brexit at all as a cause and have even gone as mad as to blame the EU.
We didn't see "long queues" on the side of a bus...
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
Top 100
x