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.

Liz Truss telling it how it is, clearly the situation was entirely avoidable.

"Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the delays were "unacceptable" and the situation was "entirely avoidable".
She said: "We need action from France to build up capacity at the border to limit any further disruption for British tourists.""

Avoidable if she and the government she is apart of had not insisted on the most bonkers sort of Brexit possible.

She said: "We need action from France to build up capacity at the border to limit any further disruption for British tourists

Is it the UK or the French who have to build passport facilities at Dover?

I do like the idea of French passport staff commuting to work everyday through the tunnel.

Probably would be quicker for them to commute by ferry so they avoid the queues at Dover caused by a lack of French passport staff

What is this evidence of other than @Clavinova 's impressive ability to cut and paste

Hopefully though Liz Truss can sort it out.

I am sure she will, always been a mad keen Brexit fan, has Liz

It looks like there were issues from 4 am with P&O tweeting at about 6.30 am

P&O Ferries initially said just after 6.30am: 'There are currently queues in excess of four hours to reach the border controls. Our check in remains free flowing and once you reach us, we will put you on the first available sailing. Please arrive prepared for a prolonged wait- carry snacks and additional water with you.'
But around two hours later, it posted an update saying: 'Please be aware that there is heavy traffic at border control in the port of Dover. If you are booked to travel today please allow at least six hours to clear all security checks. Rest assured, if you miss your sailing, you'll be on the first available once at check-in.

So the incident occured later than that - it certainly can't have helped but it's clear there were large queues already and not enough staff available.

Tied in with the extra checks and it's a recipe for long queues and delays.

I hope it gets better over summer and luckily it wasn't during the heatwave last week.

English Language report from the French side of the Channel here:

www.thelocal.fr/20220722/are-the-french-really-to-blame-for-dover-travel-chaos/

I'm afraid the B word still gets a mention.

Direct link to the embedded French language tweet from the (local to the event) Prefecture here:

twitter.com/prefet59/status/1550478680035565569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1550478680035565569%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thelocal.fr%2F20220722%2Fare-the-french-really-to-blame-for-dover-travel-chaos%2F

Sssshhhh!

Don't allow the truth get in the way of sore losers having a good rant!

How cone there were delays at 6.30 am with queues of 6 hours when the incident hadn't even happened yet?

Maybe people were just keen to get on holiday?

‘Don't allow the truth get in the way of sore losers having a good rant!’

Jesus H Christ. It really is the same as supporting a football team to some of you isn’t it? ‘Winners’ and ‘losers’? This is actual real life, not who you want to get to number 1 out of Blur and Oasis. I’m actually embarrassed for you.

For a variety of reasons both me and DH actually made money out of Brexit.
He also has EU/UK citizenship so has freedom of movement (and so do I to an extent.
Brexit hasn’t caused me any issues so far and probably won’t.

BUT I still think it’s a Shit show and am totally embarrassed by the whole bloody saga

This is Patel's latest proposal, maybe the French can do the same, smile for the camera

Tourists visiting Britain will have to send a photo of their face to the Home Office before boarding a flight from next year.

Priti Patel unveiled fresh details of a tough post-Brexit immigration shake-up - designed to create a “contactless” border.

Piloted from 2024, the “contactless” scheme could see people who enter UK airports walk down a corridor with facial recognition cameras instead of scanning their passports at a booth.

This post is ignorant, ill informed, and of such a petty nationalism, the likes of which I had not seen since the 1870s. have you ever read, I do not know... a book? That thing with pages and words?

The queues are due to passport control.
The passport control is due to Brexit.

It's not really difficult is it?

Meanwhile on Sky News the CEO at Dover says that it is linked to the UK’s post-Brexit insistence that all our passports are stamped.

domus jgw1 does spoof posts and it can actually be very difficult to differentiate spoof from genuine.

That's not how you spell Dignitas

The increased passport faffing around won't help, but I think a lot might be down to a point made in "The Local" article I linked to upthread:

This is the first summer holiday season post the B word and post the pandemic, so you've got highest passenger numbers going through places like Dover in maybe three years, combined with all the extra admin only now in place (e.g. pet passports, customs,).

Be interesting to see how things work out over the weekend even if the French Border Police get to work on time.

Before the picky step in:

My comment above that "This is the first summer holiday season post the B word and post pandemic "

should more correctly be:

"first summer holiday post B transition and post pandemic".

stoneysongs
Interviewer asked if there were many immigrants in Ebbw Vale

Strangely, the interviewer didn't spot the large meat processing plant less than 15 minutes drive away;

meat factory in South Wales hit by a cluster of Covid 19 cases...
The processing plant has a large migrant workforce from East Timor, Portugal, Indonesia, the Philippines and Eastern Europe. The worker described how many migrant workers are forced to live in cramped, shared accommodation and have been worried about the risks of contracting the disease.

www.voice.wales/worker-at-merthyr-meat-factory-with-covid-outbreak-says-staff-still-have-no-ppe/

Interviewer asked if the EU had benefited the community

For Phil Edwards, Ebbw Vale Business Forum chairman, the town centre scheme proves his point. He said: “All it did was cosmetic surgery – no jobs were created.
“You can’t call that progress. I wouldn’t say Ebbw had a lot of money spent on it. It had a lot of money wasted on it.”

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/wales-most-pro-brexit-town-15767233

What has that got to do with Dover critical incident Clavinova?

We had passport control before Brexit.
But it was a very simple one.

It's an interesting maths question. It takes 1 person 2 minutes to check a passport and stamp it. If there are 12 people doing this, how long would it take for them to process 1000 people?

Did you notice how the incident was in an area operated by Eurotunnel.

Incidentally, has anyone tried the "tax-free-shopping" yet? Is it worth doing?

Eurotunnel website;
UK residents are now eligible to shop tax free in the European Union and can save money on VAT on their purchases. A variety of goods qualify, including cosmetics, jewellery, technology, and food and drink items. Read our guide to make sure you get the most value from tax-free shopping and understand the process.
www.eurotunnel.com/uk/tax-free-shopping/

DuncinToffee
What has that got to do with Dover critical incident Clavinova?

Ask stoneysongs - I was replying to her post.

Look a shiny penny....

We have increased friction at our borders. Some people might like that. Some might not.

But to say that this friction is not at least partly responsible for delays is very strange.

Unless people can explain how increased checks does not mean increased delays at peak periods?

According to the Calais MP, the problems will recur due to Brexit.

Reported here: www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-62273523