Easter Bank Holiday chaos: Brits face two hour delays at Dover as millions head overseas for long weekend
BRITS are warned of travel chaos as two hour delays at the Port of Dover are expected across the Easter weekend.
A long line of trucks could be seen snaking towards the Port of Dover by 8.30am this morning – and it’s likely to be just the start of horrific disruption this bank holiday.
Millions of holidaymakers are set to struggle in their vehicles for hours as ferry operator DFDS has advised allowing “120 minutes to complete border controls and check-in” over the bank holiday.
Operation TAP — in which lorry traffic is staggered into the port — has already caused miles of tailbacks across the A20.
The chaos at Dover began early with one traveller complaining: “We have been standing for 50 minutes. No movement.”
Another — who made it to Calais — said: “I’m stuck in a big backlog at tunnel passport checks.”
Good Friday is due to be the busiest day of travel and ferry companies are urging coach operators to “spread the travel” across the weekend to avoid even longer queuing times.
Nichola Mallon, of Logistics UK, has urged lorry drivers to bring supplies with them as people face being stuck in their cars for a dangerously long time.
She told Sky News: “If they’re waiting considerable periods of time, that becomes a driver welfare issue and so that’s why we’re working very closely with the Kent resilience forum and to make sure that we can minimise delays.
“In fact, I have a number of meetings today as we closely monitor the situation and make sure that contingency plans are in place if needed, and people are working very hard on that.
“Our message to our members would be to check with your ferry operator to make sure that you’re aware of the latest guidance, make sure that you’ve completed all your paperwork before you head there and have supplies there, just in case, and make sure that you leave enough time to accommodate any delays.”
The RAC has predicted up to 17 million Brits will take to the roads across the Easter weekend which will result in unavoidable chaos.
Cars may be forced to crawl along at just 12mph in parts amid lengthy traffic jams, with motorways likely to be at their busiest since 2019.
The worst time to travel, according to the RAC, is today between 10am and 4pm.
On Saturday, April 8, it is best to avoid roads between 11am and 2pm.
Easter Sunday, April 9 is expected to be as busy as Good Friday, with the worst traffic predicted to come between 11am and 1pm.
Avoid travel between 10am and 5pm on Bank Holiday Monday, when 2.32million cars expected to clog the motorways.
And the Met Office has forecast temperatures of up to 17C across the weekend which could leave lorry drivers and families baking as they sit gridlocked bumper to bumper.
The Foreign Office warned Brits heading to France to “ensure they have confirmed bookings and enough food and water” for delays.
A spokesperson for Port of Dover Travel said this morning: “As predicted Port of Dover is busy but all traffic is currently running normally, with coaches free flowing.
“Extra measures are in place and Passenger Champions are ready at the Port to welcome and help you.”
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, confirmed it is taking motorists around an 90 minutes to pass border controls.
Speaking on Good Friday morning, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “First of all, the weather’s clear, the ferries are sailing well, and all that sort of stuff, this weekend was always scheduled to be about 30% lighter than last weekend, today being the busier day.
“What we did is we worked with our ferry operators to try and spread the demand across the three days rather than all on this day.
“We’ve also installed a new facility to expand our processing at the borders for coaches, that’s operational, I just saw one goes through in just shy of 10 minutes.
“It’s going to be a busy day, we’re running probably about an hour to an hour and a half to get through border controls at the moment, and we will peak through probably early afternoon, and then it will start to slow down after that.”
But frustrated Brits had to sit in their cars amid “high volumes of traffic” for up to 90-minutes on Thursday while waiting on passport checks by French officials, according to DFDS.
This came after a critical incident was declared as queues of up to 15 hours were reported at the port last weekend.
Coach driver Robert Kordula, 51, said port staff had been absent with travellers left without information.
He said: “There wasn’t enough food and the toilets ran out of toilet paper. We’ve heard nothing all night and it’s been more than 12 hours since we arrived at the port.
“The kids are not doing very well. Some of them are being physically sick as they have not had a substantial meal for around 15 hours.”
One mum, who had a daughter trying to get away on a school trip, said she was stuck from 4am.
Natasha Tranchant tweeted at 4.30pm: “Absolutely NOT ideal and busy is an understatement.
“My daughter is on a school trip and has been stuck on a coach since 4am this morning at the port of Dover with still no confirmed departure time!”
And one mum said her son had been stuck for nearly 12 hours.
She tweeted: “My son and his school have had almost 11 hours wait and still not at passport control yet.”
The horrendous delays have been blamed on French border officials carrying out extra checks on UK passports.
To add to the disruption, around 400,000 people in France have held a general strike over President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms, according to the French CGT union.
The French leader’s bid to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 has sparked outrage with protests grounding lights and cancelling cross-Channel trains.
There was disruption on Eurostar high-speed rail services – with a warning of more to come.
A spokesman said: “New days of mobilisation may be announced by French unions at short notice.
“Public transport and train connections may continue to be disrupted in France.”
And airlines were forced to cancel flights to, from and over France as air-traffic controllers joined the industrial action.
British Airways grounded around 20 flights that would have used French airspace.
EasyJet services between Toulouse and Bristol as well as Gatwick and Bordeaux were among those axed.
Those involved in protests even stopped traffic around a mile from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport early yesterday morning, meaning travellers were forced to walk.
Delayed journey times have also been made worse across the Easter weekend by industrial action at Heathrow Airport.
It comes as 1,400 security staff are set to walk out today, Good Friday, in a dispute over pay.
Staff involved in the walkout include guards who are employed at Terminal Five, used by British Airways, and those checking cargo entering the airport as well as firefighters and engineers.
Road congestion has also been exacerbated by more than 600 railway engineering work operations – doubling the amount of previously expected traffic.
Railway works forcing major train stations to close, including London Euston, will see most of the nation having to travel by car.
To add to the disruption, further engineering works have cancelled all Southern Rail and Gatwick Express trains from London to the airport across the weekend.
Network Rail Chief executive, Andrew Haines, said: “Please remember to check before you travel.”