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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Stuck in Dover

286 replies

XmasGridlock · 23/12/2020 10:15

No AIBU. Just stuck in my car in gridlocked Dover with a two year old. Only about two minutes from home. Been here half an hour now. Lots of traffic building up behind me. Plenty of people turning around. Anyone fancy keeping me company?

OP posts:
Orchidflower1 · 23/12/2020 12:23

Oh @XmasGridlock hope you’re moving soon. Do you know anyone who lives between your current location and home where you can dump your car on their drive and collect .....,at midnight.

FYI for future car weeing issues a puppy pad on the seat before you go on the nappy/ potty is useful .....so I’ve heard.

HagenDaz · 23/12/2020 12:24

One day, in a remote galaxy far far away, you are going to look back on this and laugh.

But not yet.

Unsure33 · 23/12/2020 12:24

What I don’t quite understand is all those extra lorry drivers knew that france had closed . Could they not have stopped somewhere on the way ? Why keep going ?
What on earth would happen if we did not have the lateral flow tests ?
I feel sorry for the police and everyone having to organise the tests especially as now the new mutation has already been found in Europe as well .

Hope you get home soon .

What is happening about emergency services and ambulances in the gridlock ? It all sounds very scary .

WoooooGhoulsDoAFlit · 23/12/2020 12:25

@MaskingForIt - JFC, what a sad fucking life you must lead. Grow up FFS.
OP - also in Kent, but on the other side so rooting for you!!

PandemicPavolova · 23/12/2020 12:25

Poor people.

Apparently they set up the initial testing at the airport which meant the trucks who can move go to the back of the queue, because the ones at the front still can't go anywhere?

Who, in logistics... Looking at a map would decide to test those right at the back of a gridlock queue.

Now they are moving the testing to the actual front?

Beggar's belief

swg1 · 23/12/2020 12:26

@Unsure33

What I don’t quite understand is all those extra lorry drivers knew that france had closed . Could they not have stopped somewhere on the way ? Why keep going ? What on earth would happen if we did not have the lateral flow tests ? I feel sorry for the police and everyone having to organise the tests especially as now the new mutation has already been found in Europe as well .

Hope you get home soon .

What is happening about emergency services and ambulances in the gridlock ? It all sounds very scary .

If it wasn't so near Christmas they probably would have. As it is with it being so close they need to grab a place in the queue.
exLtEveDallas · 23/12/2020 12:27

@neithernor We were stuck for 8 hours once while the police talked a suicide off a bridge ooh me too, wonder if it was the same one? (M42)

OP, MN kept me sane when stuck in a horrendous jam. If you can see the turning of your road is there anyone that you could call (Neighbour as DH working) to collect DC? Although sounds like he is being an angel for you.

Original poster
XmasGridlock · 23/12/2020 12:27

My appointment at 2pm is an over the phone medical assessment for ESA. Not sure how well cancelling will go down! But can't see it happening now.

OP posts:
InTheDrunkTank · 23/12/2020 12:29

What I don’t quite understand is all those extra lorry drivers knew that france had closed . Could they not have stopped somewhere on the way ? Why keep going ?

A lot of them have - all the lorry laybys are completely full in my part of Kent (quite a few miles from Dover) there's nowhere else for them to go an presumably they want to be near Dover for when the ports open again. The ridiculous queuing has been going on since before the French closed the ports anyway.

Avondklok · 23/12/2020 12:29

I used to live just round the corner from your pics! Hope you are home soon. I see from FB friends that the whole town is a nightmare today! 😭

Clymene · 23/12/2020 12:29

It's crazy that they're making them all drive to Manston. The whole thing is an utter clusterfuck of incompetence

Sirzy · 23/12/2020 12:29

@Unsure33

What I don’t quite understand is all those extra lorry drivers knew that france had closed . Could they not have stopped somewhere on the way ? Why keep going ? What on earth would happen if we did not have the lateral flow tests ? I feel sorry for the police and everyone having to organise the tests especially as now the new mutation has already been found in Europe as well .

Hope you get home soon .

What is happening about emergency services and ambulances in the gridlock ? It all sounds very scary .

Problem is where should they have gone?

Facilities for HGV drivers in this country are shocking.

These drivers need to get home so of course they are going to head towards the route they will need for that.

LangClegTheBeardedVulture · 23/12/2020 12:32

Oh Gods, what a blood nightmare!
I got stuck outside the Dartford Tunnel for about an hour when my DS was only 3 months old. He'd been asleep in the car for ages and then woke up screaming and unable to see me because of the rear-facing car seat. I pulled it into the front in the end and the relief on both our faces was evident.

Hope you get home soon OP.

ReallySpicyCurry · 23/12/2020 12:33

Hope you're home soon OP. Any closer to the turn off to your street?

RedToothBrush · 23/12/2020 12:36

@Unsure33

What I don’t quite understand is all those extra lorry drivers knew that france had closed . Could they not have stopped somewhere on the way ? Why keep going ? What on earth would happen if we did not have the lateral flow tests ? I feel sorry for the police and everyone having to organise the tests especially as now the new mutation has already been found in Europe as well .

Hope you get home soon .

What is happening about emergency services and ambulances in the gridlock ? It all sounds very scary .

The government said the border was now open. They expected testing to be available. Its not. Its still not. Apparently the tests are stuck in traffic. There's been a total breakdown in information being given to drivers.
PandemicPavolova · 23/12/2020 12:39

The tests are stuck in traffic Shock

It's like a bad film.

chomalungma · 23/12/2020 12:41

You'd have thought the army could use its helicopters to transport the tests.

Because we have now got to the part of the disaster movies where the army moves in.

Unsure33 · 23/12/2020 12:43

@Sirzy

I understand that but rather than be in the road could they not stop at service stations or something ?

I know it’s a logistical nightmare . I just keep thinking of people needing to get to hospital or something, being stuck.

Best of luck to those doing the testing to try and get things moving .

And if the French had similar tests you think they could have split the numbers by doing some at the other end . After all a mutant strain is no ones fault . They should be greatful porton down discovered and reported it .

pinkbalconyrailing · 23/12/2020 12:48

one service station has about 50? spaces for lorries.
hardly any enough for the reported numbers currently stuck in kent (and presumably harwich)

CherryValanc · 23/12/2020 12:48

How utterly frustrating for you. Made worse by being so close to your home I can only imagine. Is there any movement of traffic?

It's quite an apt summary of 2020 isn't it - covered in pee stuck in traffic spitting distance from your home.

Unsure33 · 23/12/2020 12:48

@InTheDrunkTank

Yes it’s obvious why there are extra lorries because all sensible companies have been getting extra stock in ( us for manufacturing) because it’s obvious that the paperwork after brexit is initially going to take more time , plus the French do still have the power to make it difficult even if it’s not . ( our non European imports always flow freely )

So it will have been extra busy .

Tbh

I think that because of covid they should extend the date. Not for any other reason though .

Unsure33 · 23/12/2020 12:50

@pinkbalconyrailing

Yes you are right . And probably no where for them to sleep overnight I guess.

ColourMeExhausted · 23/12/2020 12:50

Just rtft and invested now! Sounds awful OP. Really hope it isn't much longer. How's your 2 year old bearing up? Do you have enough snacks for you both? So frustrating to be so near your road!

Sirzy · 23/12/2020 12:50

Service stations are full, my partner was in one about 100 miles from dover and struggled to get in because of the amount of hgvs from abroad waiting to get through

JeffreyJefferson · 23/12/2020 12:51

what a nightmare