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?

Why should the French be responsible for migrants in Calais when they want to come to the UK?

Erm.......the press conference and massive newspaper headlines, e,g, like MUTANT COVID on the front of the Metro.

Backfired on them though didnt it? They didnt expect other countries to react the way they did.

Cue thousands of lorry drivers and one blocked toilet. Huge sanitation issues where they cant wash or keep clean. Bad in normal times but in a pandemic ........tut tut.

Thatll teach them to use the media to scare ppl into compliance Fucking Sage didnt factor that in did they.

Oh and a Government so hot on hand washing etc has done fuck all to alleviate the situation in Kent. Yet they are at their podiums at those press conferences wanging on about hand washing and asking more and more of the public
Yeah. We see you. ..............well some of us do anyway.

Oh and i dont think the people of Kent will be very happy to be blamed if there is a spike in cases. Seeing as how it wouldnt be their fault.

Have any scientists on Sage or NERVETAG etc released a statement voicing their concerns about how the situation in Kent could cause a spike? Considering this is supposed to be all about the health of the nation and "fighting" the virus.
Or are they keeping quiet because they know the scare tactics they used are responsible for the fucking mess.

@Beccasb not what this thread is about , but there is an eu agreement about first safe country etc etc an who is responsible for what

@MercyBooth no your right no mention if it at all , but me it you going to our relatives for 2 days instead of one is right up there
Thousands stuck sharing toilet facilities , not many wash facilities doesn't seem to of been mentioned
I also find it strange they didn't expect others to close borders on announcement
Its likely across europe anyway but then again it may not be so they would obviously want to be careful until they had more information

Who cancelled Christmas?! To my knowledge Christmas Day is still going ahead!

We have been extremely good at identifying this new strain and, quite rightly, acted quickly as the data on Friday evening was alarming.

Lorries were already backing up because of a perfect storm of reasons. Macron acted irresponsibly and is posturing ( the Dutch and Belgian ports remained open for freight as per agreements).

We absolutely need to be looking after the welfare of the drivers as it is the right thing to do.

As for 'no deal' preparations , it seems our resilience and supply chains are working rather well. And with a no deal brexit, borders would not likely be closed without warning.

Well because I assume they were bringing goods in to the country for us, so we can't just turn around and say 'thanks for the stuff, now fuck off and sort yourselves out!'.

'
Today 00:38donewithitalltodayandxmas

@NiceGerbil there will likely be delays at first if a no deal as people get used to the extra checks and documents and your right before announcing cancelling of xmas etc they should if thought of the consequences of what reactions other countries might rightly of had
Apparently we are slightly closer to a deal but that could all change
So delays at first if a no deal inevitable , but we also need to not be so reliant on imports as well'

Well ok but my point is. We're a couple of weeks away from Brexit. If no deal, then extra checks etc queues and that for lorries. Govt have flagged that and there was some kind of highly publicised plan to put all the queuing lorries in a field I think? Operaton stack I'm reminded by the chap sitting next to me. Which everyone thought what a shit plan at the time let's be honest. No food bogs to speak of just a field.

Why, if queues were anticipated in event of no deal. Have they not been ramping up capacity at our other ports for lorry freight? It's not like Dover is the only port. And talking to eg Antwerp Rotterdam some of the big ports on the other side about accepting freight traffic from UK? To reduce dependence on Dover if no deal and then queues etc.

We've had 4 years or something. It's a couple weeks away from Brexit day. Those plans could have come in, or maybe even we'd have been using other routes more already. Which would have mitigated this unexpected situation.

Answer is a big fat nope. So. This is all the fault of the French. And if Brexit fucks things up further it will be the fault of Brussels/ Germany/ The French/ erm/ someone who isn't us.

The inability of some to take responsibility for the decisions we make as a country is incredible.

Thing is if you constantly point the finger elsewhere, you never think what went wrong, and it never gets improved or fixed.

Erm.......the press conference and massive newspaper headlines, e,g, like MUTANT COVID on the front of the Metro

Or are they keeping quiet because they know the scare tactics they used are responsible for the fucking mess.

So you would rather the government stood up there and didn't mention the second strain at all, left a 70% more contagious strain to run rampant across the whole country as it has in Kent?

The government is not responsible for media headlines, the media have behaved appallingly through this whole pandemic.

Have you seen the numbers is Kent? The drivers would have been much safer with the borders kept open, they would have remained in their cabs and carried on their journeys, now there are thousands milling around in an area with a shockingly high infection rate and some of them will be there for up to a week.

'So delays at first if a no deal inevitable , but we also need to not be so reliant on imports as well'

Well. Yeesss. Nice idea.

Food will be very expensive again. And also seasonal.

I grew up in the 70s and into the 80s. I think maybe people don't remember.

Food was much more expensive. Much less choice. Much more seasonality.

The range of food we have to eat now is amazing. Do people really yearn for a time when we had plenty of British produce which was a. Pricey and b. What grows well here. And can be stored.

I'm not keen TBH.

Stormzy the govt chap said the second strain was 'out of control'.

That's not media spin. That's what our government told the world in an official broadcast.

'they would have remained in their cabs and carried on their journeys'

Because lorry drivers are magic and don't need to shit or eat

@StormzyinaTCup They leak stuff to the media to test on the public. (i have an i paper from last Tuesday with the headline "Christmas bubbles in jeopardy")
And the way they announced it at the press conference was to

scare into ensure Christmas compliance. I didnt say they should hide it. There is a balance to be struck but they dont want to do it that way.

From SAGE back in the spring.

Perceived threat: A substantial number of people still do not feel sufficiently personally threatened ... the perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent, using hard-hitting emotional messaging

And either you are bothered about the virus or not.
If you are you dont leave the lorry drivers in that state yet tell the public how to wash their hands for nine months and stop them from seeing their families at Christmas.

YY @NiceGerbil Combination of both i think.

I'm watching France 24 TV news in England English now.

People saying no food provided.

A woman said after 24 hours a bottle of water and a packet of crisps.

France seem to have made concessions to accept the less reliable flow test rather than the one they asked for at first.

Germany and.. missed it maintain their ban.

Sounds to me like they are doing their best to work with us.

the govt chap said the second strain was 'out of control'

It is and they have a duty to tell people about it.

Because lorry drivers are magic and don't need to shit or eat hmm

Kent is Tier 4 Truckstops are shut, there are limited facilities open for them. Hence they need to be on a ferry where they can shit and eat.

StormzyinaTCup They leak stuff to the media to test on the public. (i have an i paper from last Tuesday with the headline "Christmas bubbles in jeopardy")

I'm aware of that, but the government don't make up the crazy, irresponsible and alarmist headlines that just encourage people to panic buy food etc.

For anyone who is open minded and if you aren't already.

Al Jazeera
France 24 in
And strangely sky

Are a good addition/ swap around with the BBC and UK newspapers.

Always good to get as wide a range of info as possible I think.

I went looking when I realised months ago that the BBC don't really give much in the way of overseas news any more. All the wars and disasters haven't gone away but they don't really report on them any more.

Stormzy if you don't think 'out of control' is a poor phrase for a minister to use then I'm not sure what to say.

Stormzy if you don't think 'out of control' is a poor phrase for a minister to use then I'm not sure what to say.

What would you want him to say, it is out of control, which is why the majority of the country is going into Tier 4. What would you prefer he said? Do you want it sugar coated?

"rise again exponentially but in a quicker way this time" just one example.

You have heard of politics, right? Spin, messaging etc?

He said it was out of control. Which is not a govt statement that gives any confidence to our overseas partners that we have. An Any control.

So they shut their borders. It's not just France. I think it's 40 countries.

If it was a well thought out statement then they should have anticipated the global reaction and thought how to mitigate.

My view is that they thought ok we're cancelling Xmas (I mean yes people can pray at home by themselves but it's pretty disingenuous to 'misunderstand' what Xmas involves for most people) so we need to have a fucking good reason. And they didn't think. What the consequences might be.

Oh by the way.

France24 is reporting that UK have made massive concessions for a post Brexit trade deal.

Barnier positive.

Honestly everyone needs to watch/ read a range of sources.

rise again exponentially but in a quicker way this time"

If you don't mind me saying ,that just sounds like the sort of waffle that people criticise Boris Johnson for. Your average Joe on the street would hear that and think 'WTAF does that mean, just cut to the chase'.

Info:

Wary of a no deal Brexit, lots of lorries came over to get stuff done before year end.

Of course this closure was not anticipated.

The govt should be on top of this stuff though. Know what's going on. That there is strain in the system already as end of year approaches.

Why haven't they diversified in terms of in/out haulage ports? We're an island fgs. We're dependent on this stuff.

Once a deals done and these drivers are home it's problem solved then.