In the first month of this year, the emergency system that regulates these stops has already been activated 18 times. In the whole of 2021, it was only used 69 times.
Some observers point out that several ferries operating between Dover and Calais are currently undergoing maintenance and traffic between the UK and the EU has increased sharply since last year. That may be true. But it is also a fact that before the hard Brexit, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson pushed through, there were only rarely comparable traffic jams. Trade between Great Britain and the EU is currently regulated by a free trade agreement. However, because the country has left both the European single market and the customs union, every goods transport across the border is now associated with a great deal of bureaucracy.
