to be concerned that there appears to be no relief effort for the lorry drivers around Dover?

[MyNameIsArthur]

just that really. I am worried that they are not being provided with hot food, drinks and toilet facilities while stuck on the motorway and parking areas near Dover. It must be awful for them

Given the queueing lorry situation was entirely foreseen and planned for (and in fact they have even practised it with a load of lorries), it's pretty poor that they didn't bother to put in any toilet facilities or a stash of food and water that could be easily distributed.

This is the fault of the French Government not the UK Government.
No one can produce food,. loos etc out of thin air at a moments notice which is all we got.
There are facilities at Manston Airport, but obviously not in every layby and not along the motorway verge.

The French have history of causing chaos at the ports every time they have a strop over something whether its anything to do with the UK or not,

I feel for Kent council. They have this shit to deal with and unbelievable numbers of unaccompanied under 18's to accommodate or move on to other authorities.

It's funny, the French government can stop people going about their legal business, causing chaos not just for UK citizens, but also french suppliers and supermarkets, plus UK business plus European businesses. But can't stop or prevent men, women and children getting into dinghies to cross the channel to come to UK waters. And I say that not out of concern for forrin folk coming here, but the humanitarian crisis that is allowing people to cross in this way.

Macron is flexing his muscles and will be called on it by the French and his EU neighbours. Regardless of what anyone thinks of brexit and the shitshow of trade talks this is an absolute cunts trick to pull. Throughout the pandemic people have been allowed to travel freely for business reasons.

@SnackSizeRaisin they did put loos on the motorways before but when queues started to move lorries were pulling over to use them, blocking the hard shoulder for emergency vehicles

I'm pleased you started this thread OP, I was very concerned about the drivers when they were featured on the news. It's brilliant that the Sikh community has stepped in to help the stranded drivers, but it's terrible that some of them have not had access to toilets or washing facilities for 48 hours now. I'm surprised the army hasn't been enlisted to help with these issues.

Macron seems to have used these drivers as pawns in his game. I fully understand why the EU and UK would want to ban all non essential travel right now, but these are key workers performing essential jobs, not tourists off on holiday. Lateral flow tests have proved unreliable and the other type take longer as they need lab processing, so there needs to be some give on the testing point. Or does Macron think the drivers should sit out a 10 day period of quarantine on the motorway? It's inhumane.

Hopefully the drivers that are parked in the makeshift lorry parks do have access to toilet facilities - can anyone confirm this point? However, with most cafes and pubs closed in Kent, there is nowhere for the drivers parked on the motorway to go... literally.

Very difficult to provide for those parked on the motorway. It’s use on operations stack and brick was meant to be for delays not complete shutdowns. It’s inaccessible for any any locals/charities and difficult for the local authority. Manston was to be ready for January 1st - facilities were planned for then, even almost two weeks before that, as we are now is difficult to get things in place immediately. And again, the plan was for delays not complete shutdown where nothing is moving out at all whilst lorries are still arriving every minute. Manston was at almost 3000 lorries a couple of hours ago. It’s only got capacity for 4000. Regardless of what was reported earlier on the news, they now have 77 toilet cubicles, 66 urinals, every driver given 2 litres of water on arrival and hot drinks and food is now available on site. Manston is in the middle of farmland and villages so anyone going there to deliver food would be driving there. There’s no local facilities in walking distance except for a petrol station and a McDonald’s drive through next to it. Whoever locally has provided the loos, water and food at such short notice deserves praise not criticism. The UK and French governments need to agree sharpish on how to get things moving because there’s little social distance or mask wearing on site and if there’s COVID there that needs local medical help, well, we’re fucked because we just don’t have the capacity. And I’d the roads around Manston get gridlocked it means lots of people from local areas can’t get to Margate hospital if they need to.

Operation brock not brick obvs

This is the fault of the French Government not the UK Government.
No one can produce food,. loos etc out of thin air at a moments notice which is all we got.
There are facilities at Manston Airport, but obviously not in every layby and not along the motorway verge.
The French have history of causing chaos at the ports every time they have a strop over something whether its anything to do with the UK or not,

This^

There at local people and charities helping now, a Hungarian friends association, the local football club in Ramsgate are but two, but we’re in a tier four area don’t forget, very difficult situation for locals too.

@Judashascomeintosomemoney Thanks for all that information, I appreciate all the details you have given us. So, facilities are in place at Manston but the drivers stuck on the motorway have no real facilities.

I don't think this is the fault of the UK government - when they planned for possible problems due to Brexit, they could not have foreseen Brexit coinciding with a pandemic that would suddenly worsen 10 days before the final Brexit deadline. I realise that by revealing the mutation of the virus the govt may have caused this knock-on effect from France/other countries, but it would not be morally right to withhold this information. Also, I think Bojo was hoping that fear of the mutation could be used to help persuade people to downsize their Christmas plans. Sadly, it has backfired, because Macron has taken the sledgehammer to crack a nut approach, even though it is causing suffering to thousands of stranded drivers.

I know
I’m
So glad you posted this
Poor poor fellows

I drove past Manston earlier. They have loos, lighting and l believe water is being given out. The Sikh community provided 800 hot meals but there are 3000 lorries and counting.

It's the ones on the motorway, laybys and the roads in Dover that are concerning.

Thanks for all that information, I appreciate all the details you have given us. So, facilities are in place at Manston but the drivers stuck on the motorway have no real facilities
I’m in a village a couple of miles from Manston, I have a rough idea of what’s happening there. I’m not certain about the motorway near Dover - it’s actually quite a way from Manston - but as the lorries are literally on the motorway I’m assuming that’s going to be far more difficult to cater for than Manston. Another issue is the actual residential streets of Dover are now being filled with smaller vehicles, transit sized and the like, and there’s nowhere for these people to go and not an easy solution for facilities there. This is a problem for not just them but also the local people there. To be brutally honest, as difficult as the situation is, a lot of these vehicles and lorries should not have kept coming in to Kent. Though there was no notice of the closure, a lot of them would have known 24hrs plus ago what the situation was here, and yet they’re still arriving as we speak. Difficult all round.

There should really be police roadblocks at locations up the route, on the M20,M2,M25 stopping port bound lorries and parking them up at locations like Lakeside and Bluewater and other industrial areas and large service areas off the motorways until things start moving. It was being reported earlier that France want negative tests within 72 hours prior to accompanied lorries arriving on their soil. Lateral flow tests could be done with relative ease to get things moving quickly but, last I heard, France’s preference is lab based tests......that’s not going to be quick or easy.

I don’t blame Kent council fwiw, I don’t think any local council in the country could do any better

I do blame the government. No they couldn’t have predicted the current shutdown considering even in March this didn’t happen. But this sort of issue with delays and lorries queuing was inevitable with a no deal Brexit, and this close to the Brexit deadline, they should have contingency plans in place. Those contingency plans could have been put into action to deal with the current issue.

It will be interesting when the European haulage companies start putting the pressure on as there will be many drivers returning to Europe. Also the impact on Irish haulage.

Thanks for starting the thread OP - I came on to have exactly that question answered.

Well done to the sikhs and charities but Government should be responding to this. Maybe its a case of,well they are all lone males so they will just manage. There are probably next to no toilet or shower facilities ,,people will be living off the food and drink stocks they have on board,,its far from ideal.

No one can produce food,. loos etc out of thin air at a moments notice which is all we got.

We've almost certainly got a no deal Brexit coming up in a few days. The infrastructure for all of this should already exist.

YANBU. It reflects very badly on our country and would have been an opportunity to do something good for once. Especially this close to Christmas, the poor people stuck in it.

And possibly Johnson should have been careful about opening his fat gob about mutated viruses in order to deflect blame from himself for cancelling Christmas.
One international embarrassment later. Twat.

You're welcome Tantie. Whatever the politics, the welfare of these people needs addressing. Many will be stuck here for two or three more days plus have a journey on the continent and won't be home now for Christmas. They don't deserve any of this. I can imagine that many won't want to be stuck here again from January once the Brexit transition ends especially as it costs them money so may turn down jobs here

Well done for Khalsa aid for assisting with this and other disasters in the UK.

I get that government/councils should assist but they don’t seem to be able to move quickly enough.

I’ve not done my charity donation instead of cards this year so I’ve sent www.khalsaaid.org/ some cash. I’d hate to be stranded on motorway for a couple of hours let alone days

@CaptainSandy

And possibly Johnson should have been careful about opening his fat gob about mutated viruses in order to deflect blame from himself for cancelling Christmas. One international embarrassment later. Twat.

This