Kent vacation chaos: is there a fix and should really Brexit acquire the blame? | Transport

Journey gridlock strike the Kent streets close to Dover and Folkestone yet again in excess of the weekend as British travellers were being confronted with the realities of travelling to the EU for the duration of a hectic time period for the initial time due to the fact Brexit arrived into force in January 2021.

It was a depressing start off to a getaway on the continent with queues of 5 to six several hours, and travellers were being warned the disruption is set to go on via the summer.

What is the cause? Could it have been avoided and is there a deal with?

What is to blame?

In quick, the huge increase in article-pandemic travel put together with Brexit passport checks.

The weekend just after British condition schools crack for the summer season in July is the busiest single weekend for the port of Dover.

But this was the initially time considering that Brexit that the new limits for entry to the EU experienced been examined to their restrict.

This time very last calendar year, even though lockdown constraints experienced been lifted, passenger quantities were being a fraction of usual volumes, and the British authorities had imposed an “amber plus” restriction on travel from France demanding holidaymakers to quarantine on their return to Britain.

What happened at the weekend?

The port of Dover seasoned a fivefold improve in automobile figures calendar year on calendar year.

On Friday it said it managed 11,000 autos, up from 1,200 on the equal Friday in 2021.

On Saturday it dealt with just less than 12,000 vehicles, as opposed with 2,400 this time very last year, and 10,000 automobiles on Sunday compared with 1,900 on the equivalent Sunday in 2021.

Was Dover ready?

Certainly. The Dover chief govt, Doug Bannister, explained to LBC it was “absolutely true” that Brexit was to blame for the serious delays brought about by a new need to stamp British passports.

The port had been getting ready for months for the raise in traveller figures but claimed it was let down by sudden French border team shortages.

In anticipation of the peak weekend, Dover mounted a few extra passport examining booths in June. It also converted an outdated French law enforcement checkpoint for freight checks to prevent lorry queues.

It had also set up a triage program that prioritised automobiles over vans for this getaway weekend particularly.

On Friday early morning, only six of the 9 car or truck…