French border control chaos
Last weekend, thousands of holidaymakers faced long delays
at Dover and Folkestone as they tried to pass French border control.
Credit: PA.
Despite queues
subsiding by late Sunday evening, many are concerned for similar congestion
throughout the summer, with some citing reasoning down to the closure of the
M20 coastbound to non-freight traffic following similar delays for transporters
in the aftermath of Brexit.
Other reasons for hold ups have been attributed to extra
post-Brexit border checks and French authorities’ understaffing of checkpoints
in Dover. Naturally, as critics will say, the Conservative government has
shifted the blame and have reiterated that changes to border control measures
after Brexit have not had a significant role in the disruption.
Ministers have instead claimed that French authorities are
solely to blame by not providing enough border officials during a peak period
of travel. This includes failing to effectively staff passport booths – a claim
made by Dover port’s chief executive Doug Bannister. This has been denied by
the French Government who say that their staff have to adhere to stricter rules
now the UK has left the EU.
British holidaymakers now have to provide extra documents at border control which wouldn’t have been necessary while in the EU. Tourists must now supply: confirmation of intended stay length, date stamped passports, proof they have spent under six months in the EU and proof they can finance their stay.
On the other side of the channel, in Calais, traffic has been constantly flowing freely and trouble-free. It is easy to forget that all of the political to-and-fro have the most affects on the ordinary people travelling to go on holiday or do their jobs. Those who voted to leave the EU certainly did not do it with travel disruption in mind, but those who opposed it could foresee this coming.