Dover travel delays: who is to blame? | Brexit

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The French border officials

Doug Bannister, CEO of the Port of Dover, blamed border command officers, Law enforcement aux Frontières, for failing to give adequate numbers to staff members the passport booths.

The port boss claimed on Friday: “The bring about of it is French immigration controls. We’ve been enable down this morning inspite of the organizing of the very last a number of months to get all set for this day.”

He said there had been very long-time period planning for months for the summer time holiday break, which was envisioned to be the busiest working day for two years. Only four of 9 booths for the French border controls for travellers leaving the United kingdom ended up reported to have been staffed on Friday morning, which port officers say led to the backlogs.

The prefect for the Hauts-de-France location, Georges-François Leclerc, explained it was incorrect to say that the French had failed to mobilise ample border police, but some officers were delayed by an hour in arriving at their posts.

The episode has exposed broader ability vulnerabilities at Dover.

Brexit

There is some bemusement in France at the claim that approaching routes to Dover turned gridlocked and a “critical incident” declared by the port simply because 4 or 5 passport control officers have been late for perform.

Pierre-Henri Dumont, the Calais MP, said delays have been triggered by Brexit and the prerequisite to stamp every single passport. He claimed yesterday it was “fake news” to blame the French authorities. He also said Dover struggled to cope at peak demand.

Disruption at the port may well get even worse when new biometric checks are introduced in as portion of the new European Union entry/exit process (EES) for 3rd social gathering requirements. These may perhaps need people to go away their motor vehicles for biometric checks similar to individuals in place at airports. MPs warned the new checks at Dover could bring about “confusion, disruption and delay”.

The checks have been because of to have been applied this yr, but have by now been delayed. United kingdom immigration officers and Dover port professionals acknowledge that Brexit is a component because of the added checks needed.

As 1 immigration formal noticed this weekend, it was the weekend that Brexit “chose to bite”.