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.

Sorry just to clarify- I thought freedom of movement applied to the Schengen area, of which we were not a part. As far as I recall I still had to present my passport at the French border every time I got the ferry to Calais or Dunkirk (annually). Agreed we didn’t get our passports stamped but even if we factor that in, there are some 10,000 vehicles that go through Dover each day which, at approximately 2-3 seconds to stamp a passport is adding 20-30,000 seconds to the aggregate delay. So we’re talking adding around 7-9 hours of aggregate processing time at the end of the day (this is not the same as 7-9 hours of queues mind).

sorry on the face of it, it really does appear to be a staffing issue on the French side. Sounds like a covid thing rather than brexit or French thing. There’s no reason early in the day there should be gridlock if things were adequately staffed. I mean maybe that’s not possible due to covid, but let’s not pretend that it’s Brexit.

@UnnecessaryFennel ·90 days rule - thats why

Poor man was not only ambushed with cake but by Angela Raynors legs
No wonder he was prone to hiding in a fridge

The only benefit I've spotted so far.

Passport control has always been rubbish everywhere the world over. You have no choice but to use them, you are not a customer with a choice so they can be as ineffective as they want, you just have to wait. It's always been this way. Nothing to do with Brexit - or is brexit also to blame port people queuing for hours and hours to get into america every summer (since decades before brexit)?

"i ve seen UK people arguing with French officials because they don't want their passports stamped"

Did you really? I doubt it. If true then these people (or that person) should be sent home as they are clearly not clever enough to travel. The only thing arguing with passport control staff will get you is refused entry at best, and at worst ending up on a list that means every time you travel you'd better bring KY with you because you're getting searched deeper than Google.

Are you denying we have left the EU?
We have left and we are all far better off for it. We are not paying millions of pounds a week to the EU and we have control of our borders.

But But But.....if not for Brexit there would be no need for passport control so no excuse for the French to under staff their booths.

Bottom line is: this is down to Brexit but also, travelling at peak season is always going to be subject to delays.

Well other people got it without being fangirls 🤷‍♀️

greatblueheron · Today 09:47
I think anyone who voted for Brexit shouldn't be allowed dual passports. Make them wait in long lines with the rest of their fellow citizens.

OK, please tell us how you're going to find out who voted for Brexit? Genius solution, greatblueheron, you should be standing for PM's job.....(I despair)

I have fans, this is delightful. I feel so special.

But if people want to believe it's down to Brexit, their minds aren't flexible enough to consider anything else. 🤷 There no point laying out facts because processing them would mean thinking outside the narrow confines of their prejudices. It's exactly as the same when people kept repeating fallacies when they voted for Brexit. Turns out Brexiteers and Remainers are equally blinkered. 🥱

Who's a fan girl? Such childish terminology.

Ardent remainer here so if I could blame Brexit I would….however having not travelled through Dover since Brexit what is the difference now to before in the border control? It used to be the French border was at Dover and they would check the passports anyway which took time. How is it more time consuming now, to the that would cause these queues ?

it does sound more like understaffing

The French authorities checked passports at Dover before Brexit.

Well of course it will take more time. There will be people are are supposed to have a visa but don't, there will be people who need to prove they are allowed in, there will be people whose passport is not valid for France, all kinds of things that take time. There is also customs which is now different post Brexit...

@AndreaC74 , i have lived here for a long time , i know what I'm talking about thanks

Did you even read that article from 2016?

To recap... A terrorist attack caused those delays, perhaps one has happened in France that has yet to be reported?

Stamping passports takes time and the UK has had 6 years to put in place extra booths and lanes but the reality is ports just don't have the space for these and its certainly not up to the French to pay for infrastructure on UK soil, thats hardly taking back control is it lol

I agree it will take some more time, but to the extent of the size of queues that there are?

this thread reads like people thought that pre Brexit you just got waved through the French border with no checks. It’s always taken some time to get through. I know that applying a physical stamp and checking a visa will take longer than the previous checks but to cause this chaos?

IT's a combination, obviously!!

Brexit and the fact it now takes longer to process passports etc.
Customs being much more of a big deal and time consuming
Covid and its affect on staffing levels.
Airport chaos meaning there are higher numbers of people at the ports.

It all comes together. And then queues cause bigger queues and before you know it...critical incident.

Perhaps it's time school summer holidays were staggered in this country.

J R-M certainly understands how to thrive under Brexit, which is why he made sure to move his investment company to Ireland before the UK’s withdrawal form the EU.

Yes of course it's due to extra checks now we are a third country. How can people fail to understand that?

Pre Brexit, passport checks were done but they were quick. Family of 4 and passport checks took 30 seconds max. And yes sometimes they did just wave you through as you held up your passport without opening it. I know. We've travelled though many times. Now a family of 4 has to have each passport scanned and stamped and the photo checked against the car occupants. This takes maybe 120 seconds. Not much more you may think, but enough to compound issues on a super busy weekend when French border staff are, for whatever reasons, thin on the ground.

Those people kidding themselves that this situation hasn't been made worse by leaving the EU are, quite frankly, hard of thinking.

Pre Brexit, passport checks were done but they were quick. Family of 4 and passport checks took 30 seconds max. And yes sometimes they did just wave you through as you held up your passport without opening it. I know. We've travelled though many times. Now a family of 4 has to have each passport scanned and stamped and the photo checked against the car occupants. This takes maybe 120 seconds. Not much more you may think, but enough to compound issues on a super busy weekend when French border staff are, for whatever reasons, thin on the ground

It's more than that. What if one of you has a passport that has longer than 10 years validity? What if you don't have 3 months left on it after the date of return? What if one of you has spent 90 days in France already? Your car is suddenly going nowhere fast, whereas before you were on your way.

Update just now from BBC News website -

Elphicke, the Conservative MP for Dover and Deal, said France was "put under pressure" by the Foreign Office to supply extra staff to manage the five-hour queues. She told BBC News: "Quite simply, the French Border officers didn't turn up to work.

"I fully sympathise with anyone caught in the traffic delays today."