“I never thought other countries would secure *their* borders”, sobs woman who wants to head the hard borders party.
Fasci paper still deflecting blame.
Yes it was entirely avoidable, but for some reason the extreme Tory Brexit party did nothing about it when it could. Now that’s unacceptable….
Remember that for the Telegraph this Brexit is not hard enough.
Sovereignty, darling.
Liz Truss has told France it must stop the “avoidable and unacceptable” situation at the border that threatens to ruin British summer holidays.
The Foreign Secretary blamed the “awful situation” at Dover, where ferry passengers were on Friday left stuck in six-hour queues, squarely on Paris for failing to man border posts.
In the early hours of the first day of the summer holidays, French border guards opened as few as four out of 10 booths, leading to accusations that the disruption was deliberate.
Delays at the port could continue on Saturday, with one ferry company advising passengers to arrive four hours early. The AA has also warned that the roads may be even busier.
And the chief executive of the Port of Dover has said he cannot guarantee that chaos will not continue throughout the summer.
Ms Truss, one of two candidates left in the race to be the next Tory leader and Prime Minister, said: “This awful situation should have been entirely avoidable and is unacceptable.
“We need action from France to build up capacity at the border to limit any further disruption for British tourists and to ensure this appalling situation is avoided in future. We will be working with the French authorities to find a solution.”
​
The Foreign Office said she was “urgently” seeking a call with her opposite number, Catherine Colonna.
​
Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent Truss supporter, went further than the foreign secretary in his comments on the travel disruption. He told The Telegraph: “British holidays are being sabotaged by France’s incompetence at the borders.
“These controls were long planned and their failed introduction will hit the French economy and British families alike. Our oldest ally, Portugal, has allowed Britons to use e-gates and many people will now prefer to holiday there instead of France.”
Port of Dover sources last night said that the “impression” was rife that the debacle was a deliberate move following tensions in the wake of Brexit.
​
One senior figure said: “They are doing everything they can, it would appear, to make it difficult.”
However, French officials hit back, insisting that they planned to staff passport controls from 8.30am on Friday. A “technical incident” on the Channel Tunnel meant they were delayed until 9.45am.
Amid yesterday’s chaos, with the road surrounding Dover gridlocked, children played on motorways and passengers were urged to ensure they had food and water.
The town itself was paralysed, with locals confined to their homes and those that ventured out facing a four-hour delay to conduct menial tasks such as returning a hire car.
French passport checks have been conducted in Dover since 2004 under the Le Touquet Treaty. It means that any staffing shortages at France’s Police Aux Frontières (PAF) booths can create a huge bottleneck.
The port said PAF was culpable for “ruining” the start of the British summer holidays.
​
“We have shared traffic volumes in granular detail with the French authorities in order that these volumes can be matched by adequate border resource,” it 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 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.”
Matters were made worse by a pile-up on the M20, which closed the motorway for most of Friday. The incident effectively cut off the Channel Tunnel, forcing traffic into long diversions onto back roads.
Additional French border officials were caught up in the chaos after being sent via the Channel Tunnel to the UK.
The scenes at Dover marked the latest twist in a summer that has been blighted by travel chaos. Air passengers have suffered from a raft of cancellations, three times the level in 2019, and hours-long queues at airports. Train services have been hit by the biggest strike action in a generation with further walkouts by tens of thousands of workers scheduled for Wednesday and Saturday next week.
With more than 10,000 cars due to turn up at the Kent port on Saturday, ferry operator DFDS last night said it was asking passengers to turn up four hours in advance of their sailings to ensure enough time to clear French border controls
​
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, raised the spectre of chaotic scenes dragging on throughout the summer.
He said: “I sincerely hope not [this will not go on all summer] because we have provided our traffic volume and therefore our resourcing requirements throughout the entire summer.
“We can’t [guarantee it will not] because regrettably we don’t have any control over the border authorities that operate at the Port of Dover. We can plead, we can implore, we can suggest and we can discuss but unfortunately that’s the best that we can do.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps discussed the disruption at Dover with his French opposite number, Clement Beaune, yesterday.
Recovering from minor surgery on a face injury, sustained in a recent bike accident, Mr Shapps emphasised the need for close Anglo-French cooperation to prevent a repetition of yesterday’s delays.
A Department for Transport source said: “It was a cordial exchange and Mr Beaune promised to boost the PAF contingent at Dover to help smooth traffic flows.”
​
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: “The French need to get their act together. They know what the queues are like at this time of year.
“We don’t want to have to assume that this has been done deliberately. It makes you wonder whether the French government is deliberately trying to sabotage British holidays.
“They need to sort this out quickly because it will damage them: these travellers are being prevented from spending money in France.”
Speaking on Friday morning, Europe minister Graham Stuart was keen to emphasise that the problems were on the French side.
He told Sky News: “Inevitably every year at this time there are queues and we’ve been working closely with the French authorities because it’s their staff and it’s their ability to cope and process people that is causing the backlog.
“For those who are caught up in this it’s horrible. We’re doing everything we can working with our French counterparts to make sure we’re doing everything we can to facilitate it.
“But it’s not a Border Force problem as such; it is the French authorities and all we can do is continue to work with them to make sure that their technology and people are in place and we can get these queues reduced as quickly as possible.”
Liz Truss can suck a baguette.
A large part of the current problems in the UK can be attributed directly to Brexit.
As a Scottish person I’m desperate to distance myself from the dim-witted irresponsible and firmly racist foreign policy of our Westminster government.
The only hope is this crisis kills the conservative government in the next election. I have my doubts however – it feels like the British right wing media are content on blaming anyone but themselves.
Get fucked, Truss. Go take all your Tory friends and fuck off.
Cope and seethe, Liz
Ah yes, ‘demand’ always works well when you want somebody to do you a favor. Diplomacy is a lost art, it seems.
I am already anticipating the headlines next year when biometric controls will be introduced.
That was on the 22nd, it is now the 25th and it has been resolved.
Her stern words did it.
I’m confused. I thought *we* were the ones who’d taken control of our borders now?
French is like: “what about no?”
They want Brexit, but they do not want the downsides of that
They offered to resolve it and told the UK it would cost 33 million a year, which was refused.
Who the fuck does this government think they are? This isn’t the British Empire of old, you can’t just make demands and threats and expect them to be honored.
We’re small fish in a big sea and expecting to punch above our station. Brexit has fucked us and if we are expected to live with Brexit then we also need to live with that realization.
Karen demands to speak to the manager and complain that she isn’t allowed to use shopmembers register after quitting the membersclub.
Classic reddit. At least she didn’t hit anyone and got arrested.
Who the fuck is Liz Truss?
Is this another cunt that wanted Brexit and now complains about the consequences of Brexit? Yeah listen we don’t care. You wanted Brexit, you got Brexit.
I’m not French, but let me still say “vas te faire foutre, pétasse”. Go have intercourse with yourself.
Another day of the brit governement picking on France for their own domestic mess in order to deflect the attention of the british population
I feel like this whole episode is just one big media circus which results in shit flinging from both sides. Every year in Dover there is chaos, this year it’s been worse because of Brexit but also Covid. Look at the chaos in the airline industry and at airports all around Europe. But everyone gets sucked in to this from dumb clickbait journalism on either side and from politicians (particularly in the Tory party) desperate to point the finger at someone. All sense of proportionality seems to have been abandoned.
I’m a little fuzzy on the specifics, since the article seems light on numbers, but it seems to me that the complaint is over a limited number of the lanes to process people being staffed, leading to a backlog of tourists.
It seems to me that it’d be also possible to mitigate this on the British end — if one knows that a given crossing is backlogged, to recommend traveling via another.
Sometimes I wonder when the national Audience will quit accepting the old “Blame the EU for everything” Line.
At some point blaming foreign Nations for your own Problems has got to set off a Light in the head, no?
Join Schengen, easy solution
If you look at what the UK makes available for [French customs in Dover](https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/51.12914/1.33507), one lane for trucks, another for coaches, leaves only three lanes for sedans.
Maybe the UK should build more lanes?
French Customs agents need to ‘commute’ to their work (using the Chunnel and caught up in the same traffic jams), maybe the UK should build a hotel like facility within walking distance for French ‘week long assignments’?
Other articles mention that Port of Dover asked for major upgrades some years ago already, which have been denied by Government (no idea which colour).
French border is secure one way when it comes to holiday makers. Otherwise you don’t even need documents to cross.
Liz, next time I fly into Heathrow I expect to not have to wait more than a couple of minutes at the passport control regardless of how many planes arrive simultaneously.
Biggest foreign policy disaster since Lord North lost the 13 colonies just gets better and better. Even Anthony Eden would be spinning in his grave at this point.
Is Dover in France now?
Cope
is she drunk or just stupid?
could be both.
Is this after the French side hires 700 new staff and Britain refused a 33 million pound upgrade to Dover facilities ?
So the UK make a Brexit because they want sovereignty over their borders which means the EU border effectively moves back to the French coast. Now they are upset that they are treaded like any other non EU country? Cry me a river.
31 comments
“I never thought other countries would secure *their* borders”, sobs woman who wants to head the hard borders party.
Fasci paper still deflecting blame.
Yes it was entirely avoidable, but for some reason the extreme Tory Brexit party did nothing about it when it could. Now that’s unacceptable….
Remember that for the Telegraph this Brexit is not hard enough.
Sovereignty, darling.
Liz Truss has told France it must stop the “avoidable and unacceptable” situation at the border that threatens to ruin British summer holidays.
The Foreign Secretary blamed the “awful situation” at Dover, where ferry passengers were on Friday left stuck in six-hour queues, squarely on Paris for failing to man border posts.
In the early hours of the first day of the summer holidays, French border guards opened as few as four out of 10 booths, leading to accusations that the disruption was deliberate.
Delays at the port could continue on Saturday, with one ferry company advising passengers to arrive four hours early. The AA has also warned that the roads may be even busier.
And the chief executive of the Port of Dover has said he cannot guarantee that chaos will not continue throughout the summer.
Ms Truss, one of two candidates left in the race to be the next Tory leader and Prime Minister, said: “This awful situation should have been entirely avoidable and is unacceptable.
“We need action from France to build up capacity at the border to limit any further disruption for British tourists and to ensure this appalling situation is avoided in future. We will be working with the French authorities to find a solution.”
​
The Foreign Office said she was “urgently” seeking a call with her opposite number, Catherine Colonna.
​
Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg, a prominent Truss supporter, went further than the foreign secretary in his comments on the travel disruption. He told The Telegraph: “British holidays are being sabotaged by France’s incompetence at the borders.
“These controls were long planned and their failed introduction will hit the French economy and British families alike. Our oldest ally, Portugal, has allowed Britons to use e-gates and many people will now prefer to holiday there instead of France.”
Port of Dover sources last night said that the “impression” was rife that the debacle was a deliberate move following tensions in the wake of Brexit.
​
One senior figure said: “They are doing everything they can, it would appear, to make it difficult.”
However, French officials hit back, insisting that they planned to staff passport controls from 8.30am on Friday. A “technical incident” on the Channel Tunnel meant they were delayed until 9.45am.
Amid yesterday’s chaos, with the road surrounding Dover gridlocked, children played on motorways and passengers were urged to ensure they had food and water.
The town itself was paralysed, with locals confined to their homes and those that ventured out facing a four-hour delay to conduct menial tasks such as returning a hire car.
French passport checks have been conducted in Dover since 2004 under the Le Touquet Treaty. It means that any staffing shortages at France’s Police Aux Frontières (PAF) booths can create a huge bottleneck.
The port said PAF was culpable for “ruining” the start of the British summer holidays.
​
“We have shared traffic volumes in granular detail with the French authorities in order that these volumes can be matched by adequate border resource,” it 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 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.”
Matters were made worse by a pile-up on the M20, which closed the motorway for most of Friday. The incident effectively cut off the Channel Tunnel, forcing traffic into long diversions onto back roads.
Additional French border officials were caught up in the chaos after being sent via the Channel Tunnel to the UK.
The scenes at Dover marked the latest twist in a summer that has been blighted by travel chaos. Air passengers have suffered from a raft of cancellations, three times the level in 2019, and hours-long queues at airports. Train services have been hit by the biggest strike action in a generation with further walkouts by tens of thousands of workers scheduled for Wednesday and Saturday next week.
With more than 10,000 cars due to turn up at the Kent port on Saturday, ferry operator DFDS last night said it was asking passengers to turn up four hours in advance of their sailings to ensure enough time to clear French border controls
​
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, raised the spectre of chaotic scenes dragging on throughout the summer.
He said: “I sincerely hope not [this will not go on all summer] because we have provided our traffic volume and therefore our resourcing requirements throughout the entire summer.
“We can’t [guarantee it will not] because regrettably we don’t have any control over the border authorities that operate at the Port of Dover. We can plead, we can implore, we can suggest and we can discuss but unfortunately that’s the best that we can do.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps discussed the disruption at Dover with his French opposite number, Clement Beaune, yesterday.
Recovering from minor surgery on a face injury, sustained in a recent bike accident, Mr Shapps emphasised the need for close Anglo-French cooperation to prevent a repetition of yesterday’s delays.
A Department for Transport source said: “It was a cordial exchange and Mr Beaune promised to boost the PAF contingent at Dover to help smooth traffic flows.”
​
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: “The French need to get their act together. They know what the queues are like at this time of year.
“We don’t want to have to assume that this has been done deliberately. It makes you wonder whether the French government is deliberately trying to sabotage British holidays.
“They need to sort this out quickly because it will damage them: these travellers are being prevented from spending money in France.”
Speaking on Friday morning, Europe minister Graham Stuart was keen to emphasise that the problems were on the French side.
He told Sky News: “Inevitably every year at this time there are queues and we’ve been working closely with the French authorities because it’s their staff and it’s their ability to cope and process people that is causing the backlog.
“For those who are caught up in this it’s horrible. We’re doing everything we can working with our French counterparts to make sure we’re doing everything we can to facilitate it.
“But it’s not a Border Force problem as such; it is the French authorities and all we can do is continue to work with them to make sure that their technology and people are in place and we can get these queues reduced as quickly as possible.”
Liz Truss can suck a baguette.
A large part of the current problems in the UK can be attributed directly to Brexit.
As a Scottish person I’m desperate to distance myself from the dim-witted irresponsible and firmly racist foreign policy of our Westminster government.
The only hope is this crisis kills the conservative government in the next election. I have my doubts however – it feels like the British right wing media are content on blaming anyone but themselves.
Get fucked, Truss. Go take all your Tory friends and fuck off.
Cope and seethe, Liz
Ah yes, ‘demand’ always works well when you want somebody to do you a favor. Diplomacy is a lost art, it seems.
I am already anticipating the headlines next year when biometric controls will be introduced.
That was on the 22nd, it is now the 25th and it has been resolved.
Her stern words did it.
I’m confused. I thought *we* were the ones who’d taken control of our borders now?
French is like: “what about no?”
They want Brexit, but they do not want the downsides of that
They offered to resolve it and told the UK it would cost 33 million a year, which was refused.
Who the fuck does this government think they are? This isn’t the British Empire of old, you can’t just make demands and threats and expect them to be honored.
We’re small fish in a big sea and expecting to punch above our station. Brexit has fucked us and if we are expected to live with Brexit then we also need to live with that realization.
Karen demands to speak to the manager and complain that she isn’t allowed to use shopmembers register after quitting the membersclub.
Classic reddit. At least she didn’t hit anyone and got arrested.
Who the fuck is Liz Truss?
Is this another cunt that wanted Brexit and now complains about the consequences of Brexit? Yeah listen we don’t care. You wanted Brexit, you got Brexit.
I’m not French, but let me still say “vas te faire foutre, pétasse”. Go have intercourse with yourself.
Another day of the brit governement picking on France for their own domestic mess in order to deflect the attention of the british population
I feel like this whole episode is just one big media circus which results in shit flinging from both sides. Every year in Dover there is chaos, this year it’s been worse because of Brexit but also Covid. Look at the chaos in the airline industry and at airports all around Europe. But everyone gets sucked in to this from dumb clickbait journalism on either side and from politicians (particularly in the Tory party) desperate to point the finger at someone. All sense of proportionality seems to have been abandoned.
I’m a little fuzzy on the specifics, since the article seems light on numbers, but it seems to me that the complaint is over a limited number of the lanes to process people being staffed, leading to a backlog of tourists.
It seems to me that it’d be also possible to mitigate this on the British end — if one knows that a given crossing is backlogged, to recommend traveling via another.
Sometimes I wonder when the national Audience will quit accepting the old “Blame the EU for everything” Line.
At some point blaming foreign Nations for your own Problems has got to set off a Light in the head, no?
Join Schengen, easy solution
If you look at what the UK makes available for [French customs in Dover](https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=19/51.12914/1.33507), one lane for trucks, another for coaches, leaves only three lanes for sedans.
Maybe the UK should build more lanes?
French Customs agents need to ‘commute’ to their work (using the Chunnel and caught up in the same traffic jams), maybe the UK should build a hotel like facility within walking distance for French ‘week long assignments’?
Other articles mention that Port of Dover asked for major upgrades some years ago already, which have been denied by Government (no idea which colour).
French border is secure one way when it comes to holiday makers. Otherwise you don’t even need documents to cross.
Liz, next time I fly into Heathrow I expect to not have to wait more than a couple of minutes at the passport control regardless of how many planes arrive simultaneously.
Biggest foreign policy disaster since Lord North lost the 13 colonies just gets better and better. Even Anthony Eden would be spinning in his grave at this point.
Is Dover in France now?
Cope
is she drunk or just stupid?
could be both.
Is this after the French side hires 700 new staff and Britain refused a 33 million pound upgrade to Dover facilities ?
So the UK make a Brexit because they want sovereignty over their borders which means the EU border effectively moves back to the French coast. Now they are upset that they are treaded like any other non EU country? Cry me a river.