With the start of the school holidays in England and Wales, this weekend represents the first weekend of major departures without traffic restrictions linked to the coronavirus since the entry into force of Brexit, synonymous with longer checks than when the United Kingdom was part of the European Union.
Friday, many holidaymakers were stuck for hours before being able to access the port of Dover (south-east of England), one of the main access points to the continent.
The general manager of the port of Dover, Dough Bannister, who had accused the French authorities of having undersized the number of French police officers at the borders, nevertheless stressed that it should be recognized that “in a post -Brexit”, the delays for boarding will increase.
On the French side, the prefect of the Hauts-de-France region, Georges-François Leclerc, conceded a delay in the full implementation of the system scheduled for Friday due to a signaling incident in the Channel Tunnel and a traffic accident on the M20 motorway.
“Who can believe that because the French reinforcements are an hour late, it’s a whole system that is derailed?”, He wondered on Saturday, during a press conference in Lille.
“The work has been done on the French side” by strengthening the workforce, which has increased from 120 usually to 200 on summer weekends, during which 9 to 10,000 vehicles are expected per day, instead of 4 to 5,000 usually, said -he rocks.
“Predictable”
“Last year, there was the Covid: we discover Brexit” and its impact during peak days, noted the prefect, asking that the port of Dover make arrangements to increase the number of checkpoints.
On the occasion of these disturbances, press reports resurfaced on social networks according to which the British government would have refused, at the end of 2020, a proposal of 33 million pounds sterling to double the control capacity on the French side.
Despite explanations from the French authorities, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, campaigning to succeed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, persisted in incriminating France.
“The fact is that the French authorities have not put enough personnel at the border,” she said, believing that it is up to France to resolve the situation. “I’m very clear with them on this,” she added.
But for Lucy Moreton of Britain’s ISU union, which represents border guards, the disruption is a “predictable” result of Brexit. “This is his chosen moment to strike,” she told the BBC.
If the difficulties in the immediate vicinity of the port of Dover seemed lessened on Saturday afternoon, significant difficulties are reported on one of the axes which provides access to the port and the Channel Tunnel.
“Three thousand lorries” are stored on the M20 motorway as part of a system implemented in the event of congestion at the border, said Saturday morning on BBC Radio 4 Roger Gough, who chairs the county of Kent.