Port of Dover Critical Incident

[AndreaC74]

Why are we blaming the french? they didn't vote for Brexit and aren't responsible for increasing/paying for extra capacity at the French border posts on UK soil.

Stamping passports is what happens to 3rd country nationals & that adds time, a lot of it, when dealing with 100s of '000s of passengers, plus having recently been to France, i ve seen UK people arguing with French officials because they don't want their passports stamped!

The UK seems incapable of organising anything at the moment, the numbers travelling across the channel is entirely predictable and delays we are now seeing were talked about pre 2016, i remember seeing the graphs on how long the queues would be for just a few seconds of delay for each passenger.... all Project Fear.

It amazes me that every year they are surprised by the numbers of people turning up to get a ferry in the summer holidays. Did they not look at the bookings/projected bookings months ago? Why didn't they restrict the bookings if they can't cope/having got the staff? Greed, that's why

You're right, I'm sure the people at the port of Dover didn't think at all about how busy this weekend would be.

Or maybe they did, and the French didn't stick to their side of the arrangements. Which i just heard on the radio, they've admitted.

@SausagePourHomme
Freedom of movement is something the middle class feel entitled to, yes. Having the funds and opportunity to travel overseas is a marker of huge privilege. In my working class family i was the first to travel abroad, and even that was in my twenties. Its revealing that people who gripe that it takes a couple of extra hours to go on holiday often can't imagine the circumstances others are living in that might have caused them to vote differently, hence we must be thick racist red faced sun readers

12 hours and lorries stuck for days isn't a "couple of hours" No one calls a Critical Incident for that.

Aside, lets assume you are correct though, what have the people who cannot afford to travel abroad, actually gained from Brexit?

The vast majority who travel by ferry to France are hardly likely to among the Elite.

But tbh most of the Leavers i know, are fat faced Sun/Express or Mail readers, thats assuming they can read, which is probably why Camerons leaflet drop didn't work, he should have just sent pictures of Europeans with their XXX's out - Remain would have cruised it.

This might carry more weight if there was evidence that Brexit was benefitting anyone in the UK other than rich people protecting wealth in tax havens. Poor people are not doing well out of Brexit and that is not going to change. Many, many people voted Remain for precisely this reason.

Your not getting it. Its not about an immediate personal benefit. That's tory thinking.

I'm going to ignore your bigotry. Enjoy the rest of your wait.

They could lease manston again to help regulate the traffic

its serving the rich for the benefit of Europe's richest countries

Not you again @jgw1 😂
Yes of course the EU is serving the rich with their pesky employment protections for low paid workers.

*you're not getting it. Autocorrect

Depending on where you live and where your going you have to have a passport stamp. You are only allowed 90 days out of 180 in the Shegan area. That includes France and Spain , even if you have a a second home there. If you have the right to live in Spain , for example, you have a TIE card you shouldn't have your passport stamped. Many don't understand the rules....'Brits coming through'....

Pre Brexit every time I went to France we had to pass through the French passport checking booths. Right now the French have said due to illness etc these booths are undermanned by a large degree.

I'm curious why this has anything to do with Brexit?

It always annoyed me having to have the passport checks when we were in the EU as I could never understand why, having them checked now we are not in he EU seems no change to me as the checks were there beforehand. I remember queuing for the check pre-Brexit also.

See how the EU caused an economic crash in Greece to cushion the other EU members. Its like playing chess, but with people's actual lives.

Oh, is sausagepourhomme jgw doing spoofs again? Sorry, if that's the case. I thought it was genuine - it's getting too hard to tell these days.

No, a basic amount of searching would show I'm not. Low effort guys.

Since we're resorting to regina george tactics, I'm withdrawing from this "discussion".

This endless bleating of ‘Brexit, innit’ is really getting old.

Before brexit passport check was a cursory glance to check you were and EU citizen.

After brexit passport check involves checking you reason for travel, checking any visa requirements, checking to see if you've already used up your 90 day allowance, checking you have enough months left before your passport expires and that they don't include time added on for early renewal, stamping your passport, repeating the process for every passenger in your vehicle.

We always overdo it in this country. Critical incident? Why ? Are people dying?

Heat, Storms, Snow, floods, airport delays. Everything is a drama

Long queues at the Dartford tunnel (left hand tunnel only, right one working thank heavens). Shall we blame the French for that too?

Just don’t leave the Uk then.

Sorted!!!

See how the EU caused an economic crash in Greece to cushion the other EU members.

Interesting - I thought Greece's economy was tanking due to overspending and the global financial crisis (and having misrepresented its financial position - it should never have been allowed to join the euro in the first place) and it was about to default on its debt repayments, so the EU bailed it out multiple times to the tune of hundreds of billions of euros, each time voted through by the Greeks, in return for austerity measures until they sorted themselves out and reduced their deficit and debt-to-GDP ratio.

But there you go, tomayto tomahto

I missed the anglo-French agreement that said the French are now responsible for the Dartford tunnel as well as French border control. Or are you suggesting any delays at border controls in Paris airports are also the fault of the British? Maybe understaffing at Shanghai airport is our fault too?

@Zebedee999

It always annoyed me having to have the passport checks when we were in the EU as I could never understand why

In two words - Schengen Agreement.

Despite being in the EU the UK remained outside the Schengen area.

To enter the area (e.g. UK > France) a passport check was required at the point of first entry, but that was generally all, a check of validity, there was effectively no limit or monitoring of stay time in the area.

having them checked now we are not in he EU seems no change to me as the checks were there beforehand. I remember queuing for the check pre-Brexit also

Checks/requirements have changed.

The UK is now both outside the Schengen Area and outside the EU.

As a result Brits without long stay visas/EU country residents permits cannot spend more than 90 in any 180 days inside the Schengen area ( it's the same for anybody travelling with third nation nationality, e.g. US passport holders).

Border officials now need to check people travelling on a UK passport to ensure compliance with that rule, takes more time then when it was just a case of waving a UK passport at the official.

HTH.

It's no one thing is it.

Covid means lots of holidays have been put off so everyone and their dog are going away.

Brexit means longer processes and I don't think being rude about Brexit voters helps. "Hard" brexit seems to have upset and confused a large number. Remember the vote was made under one leader who promptly left. So if anything I lay this at David Cameron's door!

Lack of French staff means an inability to process what needs to be done effectively.

Fuel protests are slowing down traffic nationwide as well apparently.

It's a huge mish mash of mess which will need to be dealt with. Ideally before this time next week when I have a ferry booked from dover 😭

err, Nope, I've looked, I'm still not reading about strikes or blockades...just lack of manpower possibly due to illness....a bit like what seems to be happening in other parts of the transport industry, even in the UK.

the fact that people that have chosen to live outside of the uk didn't get a vote does not invalidate the result. Thank goodness they didn't. They have no skin in the game.

I rather think it's you who doesn't understand. British nationals making use of FOM* to live and work in other EU countries have all their skin in the game, but were denied a vote. As were the other all their skin in the game people, ie the EU nationals living in the UK. Has the heat got to your brain. How could we possibly not have skin in the game when people in the UK voted away our right to live and work where we were living and working?

As for when you come back as a Brit you sail through. How do you think that happens? There could be plenty of French people stuck this side of the channel right now. Unlike at airports you don't come off the M20 and head for the "EU passports" short queue of traffic, you stay in all the traffic and when you get to the french control they don't stamp your passport. It the same on the other side for Brits. There is no fast way to get on the ferry at Calais or Dunkirk or any of the other ferry ports. You wait your turn.

*FOM - is NOT RELATED TO GOING IN AND OUT OF COUNTRIES ON YOUR HOLIDAYS
Well it is, but it is not the entirety, or even the most, of what FoM actually means.