The Port of Dover has declared a “critical incident” and told holidaymakers heading for continental Europe to prepare for delays in checking in and boarding ferries to France as the UK summer holiday season kicks off.
“Due to delays at French border controls prior to check-in please allow extra time for your journey,” the port said on Twitter on Friday.
P&O Ferries advised travellers to allow at least six hours to clear all security checks and warned traffic near the port was “at a standstill”.
#PODover Please be aware that there is heavy traffic at border control in the port of Dover. If you are booked to travel today please allow at least 6hrs to clear all security checks. Rest assured, if you miss your sailing, you’ll be on the first available once at check-in.
— P&O Ferries Updates (@POferriesupdate) July 22, 2022
“We invested in new port infrastructure, we’ve put new operational processes in, we’ve got more welfare facilities for managing the peak flows through, but we’ve been badly let down this morning by the French border,” Doug Bannister, the port’s chief executive, told BBC Radio 4’s Today.
Large numbers of families from the UK are travelling to France after this week’s end of term for state schools in England. The ferry from the Kent port is the most popular sea route to France and many other parts of mainland Europe.
Dover on Friday criticised French authorities for their “woefully inadequate” resources at the border.
“We are deeply frustrated that the resource at the French border overnight and early this morning has been woefully inadequate to meet our predicted demand,” the port authorities said in a statement, adding that they “even more deeply” regretted the consequences that would now be “felt by so many”.
“Knowing we are now in a new world of post-Brexit and Covid checks, we worked to increase interim French border control booths by 50 per cent and have improved traffic systems in order to build in resilience and capacity in time for the summer,” the port said.
“Regrettably, the Police Aux Frontières resource has been insufficient and has fallen far short of what is required to ensure a smooth first weekend of the peak summer getaway period,” it added.