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.

100%

What a shower of British Bulldogs we are...

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.

Your response was spot on @Brefugee , darned right they don't understand.

Personally no vote in 2016 due to length of time residing over the Channel, but since I continued to have a place of work in the UK I (and many others) contributed Income tax, NI and other taxes to HMG...still do...(that reminds me I still have a tax return to fill in)

Many who have emigrated do have skin in the game.

As a regular visitor to France I noticed that since the new checks were introduced, although they are still pretty quick, it now takes about twice as long as before when only one page of the passport had to be looked at. Just having to flick to another page to stamp, check the number of previous visits etc all adds time. That's before taking into account customs checks, pet checks etc. Diver is particularly badly affected because most freight traffic goes that way and checks for them can be lengthy.

The only way to speed the process up is to have more staff. I'm not sure that having to spend public money on more border staff to make life easier for British holidaymakers who voted for Brexit would be very popular amongst the French. Especially given they will already have had to spend a lot on customs infrastructure.

I'm also not sure they would be that bothered if fewer British holidaymakers traveled there either. France is the most visited country in the world, they can take the hit from losing some British tourists.

Easy way to solve this is to close the French passport control in Dover and move it to Calais. Do the same in reverse for the UK passport controls.
This way each country will only have its own incompetence to blame for any delays.
Dover and Calais have both been disasters for decades before Brexit.
I ditch France now and only go via Harwich to Hook of Holland now. A pain free experience.

I do chuckle at the idea that the average visiting Brit will make a dent in a country's economy. They really do overestimate their spending power.

It is also another example of British exceptionalism. The idea that EU countries will buckle without British holiday makers is folly 😁

Many Southern European resorts that did adapt for Brits are gladly restoring a semblance of local culture. Brexit changed a lot, and just not the British social and political landscape.

Many Southern European resorts that did adapt for Brits are gladly restoring a semblance of local culture.

This and the cute stamps in the passports are the only Brexit benefits I've seen mentioned so far 😂

Just popping into say that I am looking forward to our road trip to Europe and being able to drive between countries without hassle or border checks.

I love Europe. I love the idea of free movement, working together and co-operation. The open borders are great.

Schengen borders - such as Norway - done those too and it's so easy.

I hope our Dover crossing is ok. I can't imagine being stuck in a long queue there

It’s the fault of Brexit because before this shit we didn’t NEED bloody checks ffs! Now we’re a third country, we do. Not difficult really.

Honestly, such bile and vitriol. Try #BeKind

But, @JaniieJones the party you champion are anything but kind, or even remotely competent.

I've concluded you are also having fun here.

There must be more...

We just have to wait longer and believe harder.

Hi. Are you posting from the year 2015?

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.

That's how I remember it.
I don't suppose the French will be rushing to prioritise us when they have sick staff etc. We voted for our own travel restrictions.

For a country where the majority of voters decided to leave the EU, they certainly like travelling to Europe! Anyway there will be delays in high Summer always, and Brexit is not always to blame, but if you don't have an EU passport then you are going to be checked the same as if you were from USA or India, China etc.

I see that Sunak is now berating the EU for not agreeing to RENEGOTIATE the NI protocol. Yes, that International Agreement negotiated with and signed willingly by the UK. Honestly WTAF are they thinking? No wonder the UK is being fined for breaking an International Treaty, otherwise the integrity of all International Agreements would be at stake.

Oh yes, forgot, NI trade is booming, whereas it is not looking so good over the pond in the mothership. Can't be having that now can we? So bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator and shaft the Republic of Ireland while they are at it.

Brexit is cruel, it is causing unbelievable international grief amongst nations that heretofore were allies and friends of the UK, and unfortunately the UK is seen from afar as being arrogant and absolutely batshit because of the Brexit debacle. Not one person seems to be able to explain or outline the benefits AT ALL.

It's not like the UK - France border is a nice wide road just going into the next country where you can just turn up at anytime, get checked and then keep driving.

It's a busy ferry port with 1000s of vehicles using it, and limited road access to it which can back up easily.

Who could have predicted that longer checks would cause hold ups?

It really is the classic case of reaping what you sow. The passport lines in Lanzarote today were a sign of the new times. I was waiting for the meatheads to kick off, but luckily it was calm. It's all about the passports though, not a single Covid challenge!

For a country where the majority of voters decided to leave the EU, they certainly like travelling to Europe! Anyway there will be delays in high Summer always, and Brexit is not always to blame, but if you don't have an EU passport then you are going to be checked the same as if you were from USA or India, China etc

I wonder what the proportion of Leave / Remain voters would be in the queue to drive to Europe at the beginning of the school holidays?

My mum (voted Brexit, now pissed off she can’t let her 2 bed bog standard new build box in La Manga) asked me if there should be another referendum 😂😂😂😂

what a bribe those Tories gave, and how the racists fell for it. And before anyone jumps in ‘no! We aren’t racist!’ For about the 60th time, please, give me ONE tangible benefit Brexit has given YOU to justify and support the vote you made. ONE.

my mum freely admitted to voting because she wanted to curb the ‘wrong’ immigration. That translates as seemingly Ukrainians are fine, my husband other eastern European is now fine despite her not attending our wedding because ‘he’s only after a passport’ (we’ve been together 21 years now) but Syrians not accepted immigrants because ‘male and Muslim’.

what a fucking embarrassing shambles.

No it’s the French’s fault, Boris and Priti said. Why do you trust what the French, who clearly will be biased to themselves say?

Yup, because the traffic was bad, they couldn't get to work on time.
If only the French would sort out their traffic problems none of this would have arisen.

It's okay, Schapps tweeted about 2 hours ago that he is working on resolving the issues.

Just a late start for him today.

There have been 40 new hospitals built. Many of them with expert help from Boris Johnson and his hi-vis vest and helmet.

This is why we had to leave the EU, they were about to bring in laws that might have meant the very rich had to pay a bit more tax, not as much as poor people, but a bit more. We could not have that, all those people creating wealth for themselves at the expense of everyone else could not be allowed to suffer.

Border French officials have said there was a technical fault this morning in the euro tunnel so some personnel were late.

Normally this would have meant short delays but two things: a) first day of English school hols b) first real test of Brexit checks (since the end of the transition period for those who insist Brexit was ‘done’ ages ago) when passports need stamping and checking. No longer can you wave a handful of burgundy passports and be waved along.

Welcome to your Brexit. Enjoy but please stop bashing the French and/or EU and take some ownership of being a third country.

Going to sip some French rosé now. À bientôt

Surely if the French staff have got to work, then there won't be any issues to sort out?

Unless it's more complicated than just being short staffed