Why are the UK responsible for the stuck lorry drivers?

[Gleps]

This might be a really silly question and I might be missing something obvious but I’d like to understand why the uk are responsible for all of the European lorry drivers who are stuck at Dover?

When this all started, it was down to us to get all the Brits living in places like Wuhan home. So why when the situation is reversed is it now our responsibility again?

@Motorina

I think we should be responsible for emergency humanitarian support (as I would expect any country to be for those distressed within their borders) but not for repatriation. However, these people are mostly perfectly capable of repatriating themselves, the minute the border is open.

It is emphatically in our best interests to get that border open, because I'd quite like a slice of lemon in my G&T on New Years Eve. What is not in our best interests is to let the chaos rumble on. It's also not in our best interests for Romania to send mercy-flights (as we did to Wuhan) to scoop up the drivers and take them home, leaving their lorries clogging up Kent roundabouts behind them.

It's also not that uncommon for the channel ports to close (winter storms, usually). Frankly, we should have a much better park-and-wait facility for lorry drivers caught up in disruption, regardless of cause. That's in our best interests, too, because it stops Dover becoming a giant outdoor latrine. It also happens to be the decent thing to do.

Very well said. 👍

Because the queues had built up even before the UK minister of health announced to the world that there was an out of control mutant virus requiring immediate lockdown.
Because so many trucks had travelled to UK to help your economy stockpile before Brexit, overcrowding was always risk.
Because your inept, incompetent government has totally failed to prepare its ports for the upcoming border checks, which are necessary deal or no deal.

Because the truck drivers are from all over Europe, not just France and many of them will refuse to come back to Plague Island based on how they've been treated.
Because Brexit is making a laughing stock of England and it should be doing all you can to repair your tattered international reputation.

But yeah, blame Macron and the French.

I think a few of you have misunderstood the question.

France closed its borders making demands for testing, yet has not provided any staff or tests/food/water or even information to allow them to cross the waters.

The UK are having to deal with France’s stance on COVID.

It isn’t the fault of the British, unless you count the huge announcement of the second strain.

Some aren’t Lowry drivers there’s families and children stuck in the mix, no food water, blankets or heating to allow them comfort.

Again this was sprung on the UK from France.

OP isn’t saying we shouldn’t help, more why aren’t the French helping?

@PurplePansy05 OMG... really? Back at you! How did you know that’s what I was secretly thinking?! 🙄

Thank you to the people who have responded in an attempt to converse, rather than make assumptions about how I feel on the situation.

To clarify, at no point have I said I agree with how they are being treated. At no point have I said we shouldn’t be providing them with food and facilities. This wasn’t even about their basic human rights. I was just wondering why the responsibility is always on us to get people home, particularly given it was France who shut the border.

I’ve been reading about the lorry drivers being tested and isolating in special hotels. I just don’t see why that is our responsibility. France could have let them into the country and undertaken the testing and isolation themselves.

@BluebellsGreenbells

I think a few of you have misunderstood the question.

France closed its borders making demands for testing, yet has not provided any staff or tests/food/water or even information to allow them to cross the waters.

The UK are having to deal with France’s stance on COVID.

It isn’t the fault of the British, unless you count the huge announcement of the second strain.

Some aren’t Lowry drivers there’s families and children stuck in the mix, no food water, blankets or heating to allow them comfort.

Again this was sprung on the UK from France.

OP isn’t saying we shouldn’t help, more why aren’t the French helping?

What more do you expect the French to do? They are trying to keep their country free of a mutant strain that may cause a great loss of life (admittedly that horse has probably bolted, but they don’t know). It’s understandable that they prefer the tests to be conducted prior to arrival.

Having said all of the above I do suspect Macron is giving Boris a little bit of a taste of what might happen if they opt for no deal.

If there was an out of control pandemic in France and the UK closed its borders, do you think it would be up to the British to go to France to assist?

Wasn’t pleasant watching them turning on the police this morning either. They’re taking it out on the wrong people. Our police and government aren't to blame for the situation, it was the actions of the French which resulted in the chaos we’ve seen over the last couple of days.

Again this was sprung on the UK from France

As a pp pointed out it was the UK who sprang on the world that there was an out of control mutant virus requiring immediate lockdown.

*The UK are having to deal with France’s stance on COVID.

It isn’t the fault of the British, unless you count the huge announcement of the second strain.

Again this was sprung on the UK from France.*

Let's think about this. The strain is prevalent in the UK. France doesn't want this strain in France so doesn't want to let potentially infected people in to the country. It also wouldn't work to test them there because if they're positive, they'd have to continue their journey possibly spreading it further, or be taken to hospital/isolation, also risking spreading it outside the UK. France therefore shuts the borders (possibly also flexing muscles about Brexit...proving the point the UK is entirely unprepared for no deal). The UK, with its "world beating" testing system and facing the risk of a new fast spreading strain is surely well equipped to test 4k people and let them go home for Christmas...or is it?

The UK has just shut its border with South Africa, doing the same thing as France. But no, it's never the Brits, always someone else's fault and responsibility. 🤦🏼‍♀️

It’s depressing that you feel you should even ask this question, and even more depressing that others are genuinely querying whether we should. Can we not be human? What happened to actually caring for people? Tis the season, but what, only if we deem them worthy or our responsibility?

As for the truck drivers, if I was them I’d be pissed with everyone right now. And I’d probably go home and refuse to work in the Uk ever again.

OP, you're either a troll or you should go back to school. Yes, "OMG, really". 🙄

If there was an out of control pandemic in France and the UK closed its borders, do you think it would be up to the British to go to France to assist?

Yes. I absolutely think we should be doing more in this case as it's so unfair on the drivers to be stuck in shitty conditions. If we imposed a travel ban though and it was known we had a large number of hauliers who were 'stuck', I would expect us to provide tests and perhaps some manpower, because it would be our decision causing it, not the host country. This new strain is no doubt global by now anyway, the reason we identified it (along with many others) is because we do a shed load of studies and tests to identify them.

Many of these drivers will be from countries beyond France. They are caught up in a border situation outside of their control. Sleeping in cold truck cabins without running water, toilet facilities, or access to hot food. These drivers will be used to sleeping in their trucks, but won't have expected to be stuck in a queue of thousands for nights on end while their families celebrate Christmas without them.

My brother was stuck in Morocco (with many Brits) during first lockdown. He was very well looked after by the Moroccan authorities while the UK govt tried to repatriate them. (4 weeks - not a complaint just reinforcing the hospitality he enjoyed at expense of another country).

It's almost as if France is a sovereign country isn't it, making it a requirement to have a negative test before arriving into French soil, just like many many other sovereign countries also do.

I don't see anyone whinging that Australia should be responsible for arranging tests and hotels for British visitors to their country.

I just love your Christmas spirit @Gleps about being kind, generous, caring..... Would hate to see what you are like in August

Yes for brexit?

The OP isnt asking "why should we do it" as if she thinks it isnt something we should want to do, and isnt aometbjng we agile actually do. Of course we will.

She is just wondering why it has been assumed that we will sort it out; why arent their own counties chartering flights, sending out food parcels and sorting out the repatriation of their own citizens because we had to do that with out own citizens in further away countries.

She is just wondering why the burden is ours, she isnt saying that we shouldn't be doing it.

I have worked for the French consulate in several countries, and whenever a catastrophe happens be it a fire in a tunnel involving hundreds of people being stuck, it is always the country in which it happens that takes care of it. Consulates offer assistance but a country has this thing called "sovereignty " which UK wanted so much Brexit happened.

They're stuck because Johnson bigged up the mutant, new strain of covid to cover his incompetence. The world responded to his statement as you would expect them too given what they're already dealing with. Johnson still hasn't learnt that when you're in a position of power your words have consequences. But as always it'll be somebody else's fault.

I dont understand this. Why cant they turn their lorries around and go home? Cant the police control the motorway so they can

I’m not sure but I think it’s because we’re not a bunch of d*heads.

@WhereverIGoddamnLike

The OP isnt asking "why should we do it" as if she thinks it isnt something we should want to do, and isnt aometbjng we agile actually do. Of course we will.

She is just wondering why it has been assumed that we will sort it out; why arent their own counties chartering flights, sending out food parcels and sorting out the repatriation of their own citizens because we had to do that with out own citizens in further away countries.

She is just wondering why the burden is ours, she isnt saying that we shouldn't be doing it.

Because they're not holiday makers stranded with a couple of suitcases. Their freight need to go with them. Do you really think Romania should charter a flight and tell all their drivers to abandon their vehicles and jump on a plane? None of them would of course - their contractor would sue the ass off them for losing a lorry and they'd never work again.

@Livelovebehappy

Wasn’t pleasant watching them turning on the police this morning either. They’re taking it out on the wrong people. Our police and government aren't to blame for the situation, it was the actions of the French which resulted in the chaos we’ve seen over the last couple of days.

This I totally agree with. It absolutely was not the fault of the frontline coppers who were on the receiving end. But it never is.

A few years ago I was travelling in rural China. I was meant to be flying back to Shanghai, and the airport was closed by an electrical storm. A fairly common occurance, so there was a process in place - we were all bussed to a local hotel, put up for the night, and bussed back to the airport the next morning. I didn't need the Foreign Office to repatriate me, because the local response dealt very efficiently with the immediate problem.

Just as we should be doing with the lorry drivers. Yes, there's clearly a political dimension. Yes, this at least in part comes out of historic antipathy between the French and the English.

But, still, the Channel ports are prone to disruption (weather, industrial action...) which inevitably causes hold ups. Part of Operation Stack should have been to ensure that lorry drivers had access to parking, toilets and food. That's the decent thing to do (just like it was the decent thing for the Chinese airline to stick me in a hotel) and, given how much we depend on freight through Dover, it is also in our national best interests.

The alternative is people crapping in Kentish gardens, and lorry drivers refusing to bring us lettuce and lemons. This year is bad enough without having to live on nothing but kale and root vegetables.

It is perhaps also worth noting that the BBC report, "Testing will also take place on the French side for hauliers entering the UK." That - one assumes - is being organised and paid for by the French.

@MyLifeNow20

I dont understand this. Why cant they turn their lorries around and go home? Cant the police control the motorway so they can

Jeez...... the vast majority don't live in the UK