Holidaymakers at Dover were stuck in six-hour queues on Friday, and the chaos continued over the weekend with long waits at the Channel Tunnel terminal at Folkestone – but was this just a freak accident or the sign of things to come?
And what can we expect from the port of Calais when those British holidaymakers return home?
Some of the causes of the travel chaos were specific, primarily the number of passengers – the weekend represented the peak ‘getaway’ weekend after schools in England and Wales broke up for summer and was therefore always likely to be exceptionally busy. While passenger numbers are expected to remain high over the summer as people take advantage of their first foreign holiday since 2019, they probably won’t be quite as high as the first weekend of the school holidays.
Other factors in the chaos included serious crashes on the motorways leading to the port, and a transport issue that meant that some of the French passport-checking team were an hour late to work on Friday.
However some of the underlying factors are structural, which means that problems – albeit hopefully at a lesser scale than seen on Friday – could continue over the summer.
Brexit checks
Since the end of the Brexit transition period, the UK-France border is now an external EU border, which means that passport checks are a lot more rigorous than they used to be – and it’s important to point out that this isn’t a French decision, it’s the protocol for all arrivals into the EU from non-EU countries.
People who travelled pre-Brexit will remember that passport checks by French border officials were usually a fairly cursory affair, a quick glance at a passport if that.
However these days officials must check each passport for EU entry and exit stamps and stamp most UK passports – with the exception of residence permit or visa holders or those with a diplomatic passport. The reason for this is to keep track of the 90-day limit for non-EU visitors.
Covid restrictions in place last summer and at Christmas mean this is the first time that post-Brexit checks and a full capacity of passengers have coincided.
Travel expert Simon Calder, of UK newspaper The Independent, estimates that each passport checks for a family of four now take 90 seconds – while that doesn’t sound like a lot, if you have 10,000 cars (many with multiple occupants) at the port each day, it quickly adds up.
‘All the border check places are fully staffed.’
Worth listening to @SimonCalder on the queues at Dover caused by #Brexit #BBCBreakfast via @Haggis_UK pic.twitter.com/Bdkdl5YK9U
— Gavin Quinney (@GavinQuinney) July 23, 2022
There are also extra paperwork checks for pets, since the EU Pet Passport is no longer valid for UK residents, and sporadic checks on goods being brought into the EU such as food, furniture or DIY equipment.
Travel to France: What has changed since Brexit?
Le Touquet agreement
But while these type of checks take place at all EU external borders, there’s an extra issue at UK ports – the Le Touquet agreement.
This is a bilateral agreement between France and the UK which means that French officials check passports in the UK and UK officials check passports in France. This agreement, dating from 2003, was put in place in an attempt to deal with the cross-Channel migrant crossings by having UK officials doing security checks in France before people can board transport to the UK – but the flip side of the agreement is that French officials are also based in the UK.
This means that when boarding a ferry or the Channel Tunnel, passengers go through two sets of passport control, British and French, which means that any issue – technical problems, computer failure, staff shortages – at one border has an instant knock-on effect on the other.
Dover and Folkestone capacity
There are of course multiple exit points from the UK, but the two that get by far the greatest passenger numbers are the ferry port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel terminal at Folkestone – and both carry passengers and freight to France.
Both sites were built in a pre-Brexit era when checks were minimal and are now struggling to adapt.
UK media reported that the port of Dover requested £33 million from the UK government to update its facilities, but received only a fraction of that. This means that there is limited space for French officials to perform passport checks.
France’s foreign minister Catherine Colonna and the MP for the Calais area Pierre-Henri Dumont both flagged up port capacity as a major underlying issue.
Good conversation with @trussliz on traffic difficulties near Dover. We welcomed the cooperation between competent technical services to reduce the delays. Also need to improve facilities at the Port of Dover. https://t.co/xCjVOjAg1k
— Catherine Colonna (@MinColonna) July 23, 2022
Lord Peter Ricketts, the UK’s former Ambassador to France, told The Guardian newspaper: “The shortage of French border force officials is a short-term, tactical problem. The long-term, serious issue is that this is the first time we’ve seen the full pressure on the border after Brexit. Even if it was a full complement of the French border force there would still be massive delays, because Dover port can’t cope with the volume.
“The underlying reality is that no matter how many they have, given the size of the port, given the fact that the government failed to invest in expanding the facilities, it is going to be like this – this will be the new normal.”
Freight
As mentioned, both Dover and Folkestone carry freight traffic as well as passengers, and although the entry and processing area to both ports is completely separate for the two types of traffic, problems with one can have knock-on effects for the other.
Lorries exiting the UK now face a huge amount of extra paperwork and ever since the end of the Brexit transition period there have been issues dealing with this.
In Kent ‘Operation Brock’ is put into place at peak times – this involves lorries destined for the Channel Tunnel queuing in the inside lanes of the M20 motorway, and frequently these queues can be seen stretching for miles. When the motorway is very busy with other traffic, the loss of inside lanes can slow it to a standstill – and this is what happened on Sunday with holidaymakers waiting for hours in static motorway traffic.
The lorry issue has been ongoing ever since the end of the Brexit transition period in January 2021, and seems unlikely to be solved quickly.
Covid checks
In addition to passport checks, the additional check in place this summer is Covid-related – although the UK has ended all Covid restrictions, France still requires all arrivals to be either fully vaccinated or have recently tested negative for Covid, with checks done before boarding.
These checks are usually performed on a random basis, but appear to have been stepped up from the start of July, as France experiences a seventh wave of cases.
Calais
The tens of thousands of people who left the UK over the past few days will mostly be returning, so can we expect a repeat of the chaos at Calais?
British officials based in Calais do the UK passport checks, but Brits returning to the UK after a holiday don’t need their passports stamped, so the process should be slightly quicker.
Calais port has seen quite extensive remodelling to deal with the effects of Brexit, with a €20 million investment in new systems, expanded processing areas and more staff – mostly aimed at dealing with freight traffic.
As with Dover, however, this summer will be the first time the French post-Brexit system has been tested with a full capacity of passengers, so it remains to be seen whether it will cope.
Eurostar or flying
If you’re trying to avoid Channel ports, the alternatives for travel to France are taking the Eurostar from London to Paris or flying. Unfortunately, both of these travel methods have seen their own problems, with long queues at Eurostar stations (related to Brexit checks and staff shortages) and chaotic scenes at UK airports related to staff shortages.
Extra EU checks
The EU is planning a major overhaul of its external borders which will require travellers from the UK to undergo extra passport screenings and tourists to get a €7 visa.
These will add another layer of checks at the border, but the EU has delayed the introduction until at least September – after peak holiday season – and it’s possible that they could be delayed again or phased in over a period of months.