Motorists have reported delays of more than six hours approaching Dover with long queues caused by disruption to cross-Channel ferry services.
Bad weather and a shortage of ferries are being blamed.
Capacity at the Port of Dover was already reduced due to the suspension of P&O services.
Lorry driver Stuart Orme, who has been stuck for several hours, told the BBC people were being "treated like animals" with little or no help.
A section of the M20 is being used to park lorries, leading to long tailbacks and under Operation Brock, the motorway remains closed to anything other than freight between junctions eight and nine.
The Department for Transport says efforts are being made to minimise disruption.
Operation Brock's concrete barrier, found between Ashford and Maidstone on the M20, was originally introduced to keep traffic moving amid fears that a no-deal Brexit plan would lead to delays at the border.
Lorry driver Stuart Orme told BBC South East on Saturday he had been stuck between junctions eight and nine of the M20 for more than six hours and had moved less than 0.6 miles (1km) in that time.
"We're being treated like animals. No welfare, no toilet facilities and no information. We're just left here", Mr Orme said.
"We're trying to get to the Ashford truck stop because we won't get over [to their destination] today. They won't let us go down the middle of the queue to get to Ashford to use facilities."
Another freight firm Logistics UK told the BBC it had built in plans for a 15-hour wait at Dover to cross the channel, and again at Calais on the way back.
NHS nurse Matthias Mueller left his home in London with his family at 05:00 BST to try and be among the first to swap his P&O ticket for a DFDS one at the port.
"We are going to Germany to see my parents for the first time in two years. We thought this would be an early start to the Easter holidays, it's come to a standstill." Mr Mueller said.
Nick Gale, a teacher from Kent travelling to Amsterdam with family, criticised the "awful" communication around Dover after missing the ferry they were booked on.
"We've got no food and an eight-year-old in the back moaning", Mr Gale said.
"Around Dover it's awful, there is no communication for what non-freight customers [are] to do. We're local to the area so knew a couple of ways to beat the huge queues but it's literally not moving."
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke said: "The traffic disruption caused by P&O's actions is very serious", adding that the adverse weather and Easter break had made the situation "severe" and likely to continue for days.
"The problems have caused an unacceptable impact on our community, particularly at Whitfield, Aycliffe, Capel-Le-Ferne and in Dover town itself."
Bus operator Stagecoach also tweeted it was experiencing significant disruption to local services in Dover due to gridlock in the town centre.
Some schools have already broken up for Easter and an increase in traffic was expected as many families made the most of the easing of travel restrictions.
P&O services have been reduced after the company sacked 800 workers last month. It has yet to be given permission to resume sailings to France using cheaper agency staff.
The shortage of cross-Channel services was made worse after a DFDS ferry hit a berth in Dunkirk in strong winds, leading to that being taken out of service for repairs.
It will not be available until Monday at the earliest.
Travel journalist Simon Calder described it as a "perfect storm" for Easter travellers.
With P&O's three vessels at berth in Dover, he said DFDS services had been coping well with the extra passengers until Saturday.
A "surge in demand" had been coupled with difficult weather conditions in the Channel overnight, he said.
Disruption at airports
"It's very difficult to see how that will be relieved," he added, with bookings also high at the Eurotunnel terminal at nearby Folkestone.
Eurotunnel Le Shuttle is reporting hour-long delays ahead of check in. The firm says it is "currently experiencing issues with our system at check-in" and apologised to passengers.
Mr Calder said disruption was affecting airports as well with Easyjet cancelling flights to Mykonos, Copenhagen and Corfu at Manchester Airport.
Meanwhile, British Airways has denied widespread flight cancellations at Gatwick, contrary to earlier reports.
The airline said that while it was a very busy weekend, the majority of flights were operating as planned.
However, it said it had "slightly reduced" its schedule until the end of May as it built up the business after the pandemic, which saw large-scale job cuts.
BA has previously announced it had cancelled a substantial number of flights in recent weeks to give it operational resilience.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiM2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLWVuZ2xhbmQta2VudC02MDk2NTI0NdIBN2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3VrLWVuZ2xhbmQta2VudC02MDk2NTI0NS5hbXA?oc=5
2022-04-02 13:24:51Z
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