Queues at Dover again...despite all French staff being there

[cakeorwine]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11058351/What-queues-like-Dover-Holidaymakers-hit-two-hour-queues-warned-weekend-worse.html

How can this be? It was all down to the French not having enough staff apparently. At least that was the excuse last week.

I suppose it could be because it's a busy time of year. Which it is.

And it's going to get worse this weekend.

6 years they had to plan for this. 6 years.

"Due to Britain now being a 'third country', Paris insists travellers must have their passports stamped with dates when entering and leaving the EU's Schengen area, which France is a member of.
This is to ensure Britons don't stay more than 90 days within a 180 day period without a visa, which is required post-Brexit for longer visits.
Border guards have also been ordered to ask British holidaymakers whether they have a return ticket, have enough money for their stay and have booked accommodation.
It means it can take an extra 90 seconds longer to carry out passport checks on Continent-bound cars."

I don't think each passenger is being asked about their journey. But it is taking longer and it's good to see the Mail mention that.

I wonder what excuse is going to be this weekend's one?

I think you have to realise the French have an axe to grind - this is a cheap and easy way to punish the Brits for leaving the EU.
So you're suggesting they shouldn't be able to control their borders? Only we should be able to do that?

Yawn, yawn, yawn, it doesn't matter where the link if from the situation is what it is and the debate is the same if the link was from whatever paper you think is good enough for your highbrow mind

I dont think anyone said last wkned that it was just the staff shortages, the extra checking time and need for more checkpoints was widely discussed too. It's years since I've been to Dover so dont know the logistics of how easy to and expensive that will be but it seems a large sledgehammer for a nut that only needs to be cracked on a few weekends a year. There must be other more creative solutions.

There must be other more creative solutions.

One problem is for the last almost 6 years the answer from many on the UK to almost any postulated border problem, border queues (e.g. Ireland) has been a bit of a glib response of "technological solutions"..yet here we are.

The queue was awful. French border control looking at each passport and slowly checking each passenger

I think you have to realise the French have an axe to grind - this is a cheap and easy way to punish the Brits for leaving the EU.

The brits aren’t being punished by the French, they are getting what they voted for. People voted against free movement and this is what that looks like.
Oh people didn’t realise it also applied to them and doesn’t only apply to brown people? What a surprise.

Well I was there on Monday morning and there were no quests at all -maybe travel on different day to the busiest Saturday in three years…?

this is a cheap and easy way to punish the Brits for leaving the EU
EU people are nowhere near as interested in Brexit as Brits think they are. In this case the French are applying some simple rules resulting from Brexit. It's interesting that you call that a punishment.

Anyway apparently part of the issues in the last few weeks was the high number of lorries - heard on radio 4 that what they need is huge lorry parking facilities so they can get them out of the queues.

All EU countries now stamp Brit passports both in and out and often ask questions on entry ie how long are you staying, who are you staying with…
I love walking passed the long queue of Brits thinking “suckers” even if I know not all the people in that queue voted Brexit and I have to wait for my British DH for ages on the other side anyway 😁

I dont think anyone said last wkned that it was just the staff shortages

It was clear that Tory Ministers and Tory supporting papers were blaming staff shortages.

Now that's not an issue, they need to come up with a new reason.

I picked the Daily Mail as they were blaming the French last week and now they have acknowledged that the UK is a third country and that more checks need to be carried out. Still blaming the French because apparently "they want to stamp our passports"

Interesting that taking back control seems that there is no control at all and everyone else is to blame for the shit show at borders and airports. What did people think Brexit meant? I’m sure all the people in Dover who were very pro brexit and now have their roads gridlocked are considering their decisions (although probably not because the French are just mean to us 😂).

I think you have to realise the French have an axe to grind - this is a cheap and easy way to punish the Brits for leaving the EU.

this kind of talk makes me laugh a lot. It is no skin off their nose if it takes you 20 seconds or 20 hours to get through. they have to do their job properly because if later on someone overstays - they are in line for a talking to. It's not just France anyway. It is the entirety of the EU that are applying this, and it is particularly felt in Schengen countries because it gives you access to all the countries involved.

IMO i think it would be better if freight traffic could be diverted to a different port or part of the port, but i don't think there are available roads for that? I haven't been through dover for yonks, but there were often big queues on the French side coming back depending on day/time and when you travelled. I prefer to use other routes into the UK this time, but I'm not coming over directly from Franc so the options are better.

Anyone been through JFK or several other major US cities when multiple flights have landed? 3+ hours was nothing to get through, happened to me numerous times and none of the border officers were remotely bothered about the queue.

It does seem to have been particularly bad in recent days but this is what crossing borders looks like in loads of countries.

He may be able to sail past with you.
We arrived in an EU country a few days ago that DH and the DC have passports for.
I went through the EU bit with them where there was no queue at all rather than join the long other passports one

People are paying money and risking their lives to get across the channel ,in unseaworthy boats, to get away from that shithole.

Other people are paying and prepared to queue for hours to get in.

And with passengers, you get a long queue of passengers which has little effect on the local area

But with a massive queue of cars, there is going to be an impact on the people of Dover and the surrounding area.

I have queued at immigration in many airports. And been asked about my stay. That's what happens.

I feel sorry for everyone who voted in the dark. They are not to blame for this.

I will absolutely blame them, they did not have to 'vote in the dark', instead of listening to the bloke down the pub or some tabloid they could have done five minutes of rudimentary research before making an informed decision.

I think you have to realise the French have an axe to grind - this is a cheap and easy way to punish the Brits for leaving the EU. They have no interest in ensuring we don’t suffer delays.

Lol, you are conflating two very separate issues here.

1. The French really do not care enough about Brexit to want to “punish” anyone for it. I don’t know where it comes from but you seem to have a very over inflated sense of how important Brexit was to the rest of Europe. Most French people that I’ve spoken to (I live in France) are bemused in a wondering ‘why on earth are you doing this?’ kind of way.
2. the French Border Police who control the immigration booths at airports and ferry terminals have absolutely no interest in whether anyone - Brits, French citizens, anyone - suffers delays to travel. They are not beholden to any customer service targets, and they really do not give the tiniest shit whether people are inconvenienced. They do not care. They don’t care if individuals are inconvenienced, they don’t care if ferries or flights are delayed - it is not their job to care about this. This is not unique to Dover / Calais or to ferry transport. Gallic shrug 🤷‍♀️. That’s French officialdom for you, bienvenue en France mes amis!

Would your husband consider getting an Irish passport?

My sisters husband applied recently when he saw that he had to queue, while his wife and children would be waved through at the airport.

"The French" absolutely do not have an axe to grind. They are applying the rules which the UK have asked them to apply to us. Rules we helped draw up by the way.
If there are no checks or delays in the other direction its because the UK is choosing to waive the "control" we were so desperate to take back in an attempt to hide the negative (and utterly predictable) consequences of brexit.
I wonder how many "undesirables" are taking advantage of the Tory party's current open borders policy?? And why brexit voters don't seem to care about that any more!

You can't just get an Irish passport. You have to have been born in Ireland before 2005, have a parent or grandparent with Irish citizenship, or become an Irish citizen yourself.

I’m sorry but I disagree, my sister hasn’t been to a pub in 20 years, she reads the good newspapers and voted for Brexit 😁

she really regrets it now though. There was a feeling at the time of ‘this isn’t working, let’s try something else’

Also, I think that the spinning and press were a lot better for the leave side. I don’t think anyone really thought the yes vote would win either.

Dover is convenient to get to France but its design near the cliffs limits its expansion possibilities.

Some radical ideas could be to look at Jubille Way above the cliffs and maybe open a large border control there.

Then have Jubillee way as a dedicated route to the ports.

But that might be controversial.

A proper look at Dover and how it could be designed as a port with effective infrastructure should be carried out

They have to do things in a certain manner to abide by the new laws that are in effect since the Conservatives pushed us out of the EU on a non-statutory referendum.

If our government decided to allow us to be in the Schengen zone (for which EU membership is not necessary), we wouldn't be queueing. French officials have pointed out as much.

You can go right ahead and blame the Conservatives for poor planning on this one.

Jacob Rees - Mogg helpfully recommends that people who don't want to queue at Dover for their holidays should go to Portugal instead.

I wonder if he has ever been on a European driving holiday staying at a campsite?

news.sky.com/story/jacob-ress-mogg-says-people-should-go-on-holiday-to-portugal-to-avoid-queues-at-dover-12660725

"He blamed the gridlocks on the French for "not getting enough people to man the extra booths" that have been put in by the Port of Dover.
He told reporters: "If the French decide not to provide the immigration officers that are needed, then there will be queues. But this was a decision of the French"

So what will he say this time?

The French don't "have an axe to grind". They're controlling their borders which they're absolutely entitled to do. Or do you think that being British means that their rules shouldn't apply to you? This country voted to end freedom of movement, and this is what it looks like. Enjoy!