To wonder how 10,000 truckers are going to the toilet?

[snowisfallingallaroundus]

I can't imagine it's pretty

Fair dos! But it is his own citizens he has affected plus EU lorry drivers and food suppliesrs so seems an odd action to take really. Anyway it has backfired on him as all the other EU countries have basically told him to stop being a dick

Yes and it's far more complicated than just France blocking UK as lots of the drivers are meant to be picking up deliveries for third countries on their return journey so lots of other places are being adversely affected now.

Why would this have happened anyway? Sorry

Because at the moment, every lorry drives off the ferry (or Eurostar train) and straight on to the motorway and because the UK and EU are in a single market and customs union, there are only spot checks carried out on the arriving vehicles, both on the UK side of the Channel and on the EU side (at Calais, Dunkirk, Zeebrugge, Hook of Holland, Rotterdam, Esbjerg etc.)

On 31st December the UK leaves the SM and CU so every lorry has to be checked and papers need to be stamped. This is regardless of whether there is a Deal or No Deal.

The time taken to check the vehicles (at either or both ends of the journey) means that the ferry and train capacity will be severely reduced, causing a bottleneck and resulting in tailbacks on both sides of the Channel. The logistics companies and RHA estimated that a check of just one minute per lorry would result in a 17 mile queue. Many loads will require checks that take 15-20 minutes, and some might take over an hour.

Gove refused to engage with the logistics industry and refused to accept that there would be the need for overflow lorry parks. As late as June he was still denying that these would be needed - before the government finally realised that the lorry parks would indeed be needed, at which point they purchased land at Ashford (and elsewhere) for the parks. These were only supposed to be holding areas, so little provision has been made for toilets, showers, food, internet connections, fuel etc and the Ashford site is not actually ready - which is why 3,000 lorries are parked up on an airfield with no facilities.

The event that triggered the chaos was the French government deciding to halt all traffic from the UK.

The inability to deal with the chaos (which might equally have been caused by winter weather, fog in the Channel, industrial action in France or the UK, or by trucks breaking down near the harbour, or ferries breaking down etc.) lies with the UK government and with Gove, whose great plans were shown to be completely inadequate when faced with reality.

Correction - the trucks are not on the Eurostar, but on the Eurotunnel trains.

And this level of chaos is still likely to occur after 31st December unless the logistics companies refuse to send lorries and drivers over the Channel. This can be done - the trailers can be transferred without the cab - but this severely reduces the ferry capacity as it takes far longer to load and unload the ferries.

Thanks very much for that detailed response. I totally understand now. I can’t quite believe they wouldn’t have put any firm and proper plans in place!

Lorry drivers leave full bottles of piss and bags of shit on the side of the road here all the time so nothing new sadly.

My Aunt lives in Whitfield, a village just outside Dover.
On her walk today she discovered they've been using the public footpaths.

I think it’s absolutely despicable that the British government hasn’t put in place proper facilities for them (safe place to park, toilets, showers, hot food) given the inevitable delays that will happen with brexit. Also shameful that they’ve had to rely on charities to be fed.

I feel so sorry for them, a lot of them trying to get home to their families, must be devastating.

@cantdothisnow1 thanks for sharing. I've donated.

I know there are endless things to be upset about at the moment but I've found the footage of those poor drivers quite distressing.

It's particularly awful as they're caught up in our shitstorm and clearly just desperate to get back to their homes and families for Christmas.

Khaalsaid aren't the only charity involved in providing food for the truckers. The brilliant Sikh temple in Gravesend were there working with them. If you'd like to support them www.paypal.com/gb/fundraiser/charity/3153593

Does anyone know which charities are proving the food? I'd like to make a donation to them.

I thought in Japan (cars stuck in snowstorm) the army distributed meals, water and disposable potties.
The treatment of these poor lorry drivers and the unpreparedness and inaction at a higher level is just shameful. For Germans and maybe other EU countries, Xmas is celebrated on the 24th, not on Christmas Day. So they will be stuck in Dover For Xmas tomorrow 😔

@OlympicProcrastinator

My husband is an HGV driver and I can assure you none of them have toilets in their cabs. Only bunk beds. This isn’t new. Petrol stations and pit stops for HGV drivers have been shut up and down the country have been closed since the beginning of lock down and they’ve been using the side of roads for months.

Nobody batted an eyelid because it’s a working class and immigrant problem and nobody has given a shit (scuse the pun) about anything that affects them for years.

I can't believe that the very people who are responsible for getting us almost everything we need are so badly catered for. It's really shocked me.

Why don't we value our truckers more? We'd really struggle for the most basic necessities if they were all to stop driving. Something should be done about making provision for them.

If a workplace failed to make sanitary provision for their staff, they'd be prosecuted or something. Lorry drivers' workplace is our roads and there should be more toilets, places they can shower etc.

I had no idea that this wasn't the case.

@MereDintofPandiculation

portable toilets every 1 km on the M20 between junctions 10a-11. Can't imagine I'd be willing to walk half a kilometre if I woke in the middle of the night needing a pee.

And walking half a kilometre if you're desperate for a crap would be awful. That's about the distance from my house to the nearest main road, and I'd struggle to make that if I really needed to go!

Just donated to khalisaaid

[quote carlywurly]@cantdothisnow1 thanks for sharing. I've donated.

I know there are endless things to be upset about at the moment but I've found the footage of those poor drivers quite distressing.

It's particularly awful as they're caught up in our shitstorm and clearly just desperate to get back to their homes and families for Christmas.[/quote]
Me too, I feel for them. Some of them have been stuck for days already. It's awful for them at Christmas. I'm glad the charities are helping but the government should be doing more. They could get the Army to help with provisions as well as testing.

@snowisfallingallaroundus

Most of the sex toys were vibrators and dildos etc I'm guessing for anal stimulation as they were often filthy. Stacks and stacks of porn as this was just before the big boom in phones with internet for porn. But mostly it was just masses of urine filled bottles, wadded up turds etc.

I never saw any prostitutes at all input truck stop and our site was patrolled and covered by cctv. Tbh we had a group of local women that would rock up like clock work and keep the drivers that were looking for company entertained. We also had strippers on a few nights a week. 90% of men just wanted to have a pint and watch tv and then go to bed in their truck. But some of them would work their way through all the local women over a year or two and then go to town looking for more. The local woman often worked there in the kitchen or as chamber maids too. It was a bit of a sad life but they got their drinks bought for them and some of them had long term things. I know 3 of them got married to drivers and 2 couples are still together.

Oh no no. TMI

Surprised there isn't a show called Truckers based on some of the insights

Truckers are, I'm afraid, either entirely invisible, or seen as some kind of uneducated nuisance because they drive for a living, and virtually every adult can drive, and car drivers don't like getting stuck behind lorries.

Truckers did go on strike a few years ago and there were food shortages.

I'd like to see the average car driver manoeuvre a lorry and reverse it around a corner of a busy road (like one has to do for a supermarket near me). I don't think people quite appreciate the skill that's required to move these things.

But look at the reporting of this situation. How many days did it say before the lorry drivers were mentioned? It was (and generally still is) about the lorries. The fact that the lorries didn't drive themselves to Dover is ignored. Same with every news report about Brexit and good crossing the channel. I have never heard a politician say, "We need the lorry drivers who will have to queue to have somewhere safe to wait with adequate facilities."

Not even the Labour Party.

I'm not saying that lorry drivers are some kind of heroes, but the fact they exist and are human is simply removed from every discussion in a way we can be certain they wouldn't if the job was one that was traditionally attracted the middle classes.

Please don't overlook the other charity working alongside Khaalsaid - our brilliant local Sikh temple have stepped up now and many times in the past SIRI GURU NANAK DARBAR (SIKH TEMPLE).

www.paypal.com/gb/fundraiser/charity/3153593

I do live in Kent,

Just a reminder that as well as the wonderful seek groups that are providing food etc at the moment, the Salvation Army is also sending meals and food parcels etc.

As well as the wonderful stuff being done by Sikh charities, there is a local Holiday Inn hotel who have opened rooms and for £10 they are letting drivers shower and providing them with unlimited tea and coffee, chips and chocolate to take away. Anyone who wishes to donate can call the hotel directly on 01233 713333.

Obviously, I’m just some random on the Internet and I don’t want anyone trying to think I’m trying to scam anyone, so if anyone wants to donate but isn’t certain, please feel free to Google Kent Online, which is the local paper, who have reported on it and can confirm the details.