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Suella Braverman has said it is not “fair” to blame the hours-long delays at Dover port on Brexit.
The home secretary said in general “things have been operating very smoothly at the border” and she does not think “this is the state of affairs to go forward”.
“What I would say is at acute times when there is a lot of pressure crossing the Channel, whether that’s on the tunnel or ferries, then I think that there’s always going to be a backup and I just urge everybody to be a bit patient while the ferry companies work their way through the backlog,” she told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme.
This morning, port authorities warned passengers are still facing long queues after extra overnight ferries failed to clear the backlog of waiting coaches.
This afternoon, the Port of Dover posted an update saying the waiting times for coaches were around four hours.
Operators P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways reported delays to ferry and coach services, citing bad weather and hold-ups at French border controls as partly responsible.
Watch: Not ‘fair’ to blame Dover chaos on Brexit, Suella Braverman says
Easter travel chaos: All the rail, road and flight disruption taking place over the holidays
Transport strikes, rail engineering work and traffic congestion are combining to make Easter 2023 a very challenging time to travel.
French air-traffic controllers – who look after airspace used by tens of thousands of British passengers every day – continue to cause delays and cancellations of European flights. Italian aviation workers will strike on Sunday, causing more disruption.
Our travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:
Brexit not to blame for Dover chaos, says Suella Braverman – who claims smooth operations since EU exit
The home secretary claimed it was “unfair” to blame the post-Brexit passport checks for the chaos as the port as Easter holidaymakers get stuck in misery at the border with France.
Extra sailings ran overnight from Dover to Calais to try to clear the huge backlog, partly blamed on bad weather affecting ferry crossings and a higher-than-expected surge in bookings.
Travel experts have also blamed the inspection and stamping of individual passports after Brexit. Dover chief executive Doug Bannister said the post-Brexit checks have made processing “more challenging”.
Asked if she accepted Brexit as a cause of the chaos, Ms Braverman told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I don’t think it’s fair to say that this is an adverse effect of Brexit.”
The Tory cabinet minister added: “We’ve had many years now since leaving the EU, and there’s been on the whole, very good operations and processes at the border.”
School trip cancelled due to health concerns for tired coach drivers following excruciating delays
Charity director Maggie Gordon-Walker, of Brighton, said her son’s school trip Italy’s Folgarida area had to be cancelled due to health concerns for the tired coach drivers caused by the delays.
Ms Gordon-Walker, who feels the delays have been “exacerbated hugely because of Brexit red tape”, told the PA news agency: “They arrived at Dover around 8pm yesterday (Saturday) and were shunted off to a services near Folkestone.
“They returned to Dover around 2am and stayed in the coach in the queue until 9.20am this morning, when it was decided the trip had to be cancelled on the grounds of health and safety because the coach drivers would have needed a nine-hour rest break upon arrival in France, so the school party would have been travelling for over 48 hours without sleep.
Ms Gordon-Walker, who had been paying for the trip in instalments, added: “My son is knackered and deflated. I feel sorry for him and angry that this has happened.”
Frustrated parents criticise Dover port Twitter for not being ‘realistic'
Frustrated parents on Twitter have hit out at the Port of Dover for not being “realistic” with how long delays will last.
Earlier this afternoon, the port tweeted that border processing is currently taking four hours for coaches.
However, several parents left comments which suggest otherwise.
One person said: “Please be realistic about the time it takes to get the coaches to enter the port in addition to this time when you provide updates. My son has been on a coach since 5pm yesterday and has still not left Dover.”
Another parent said: “The coach my boys are on has just got through border controls - that was 11 hours from entering the port. Please can you be a little more realistic & honest with the waiting times (& do something proactive about it next time!)”
Dover port chaos due to bad planning by government, Lisa Nandy says
Shadow levelling up secretary Lisa Nandy said “a range of factors” have caused the delays, but she claimed the Government had not planned for what was going to happen post-Brexit.
She told Sophy Ridge On Sunday that ministers had “known for a very long time that they needed to make sure that there were resources in place to deal with additional paperwork checks”.
She added: “The point is not whether we left the European Union or not. The point was that we left with a Government that made big promises and once again didn’t deliver.
“I really feel for the families that are trying to get away for a Easter break, people who have been caught up in this chaos, people whose livelihoods are threatened.
“It didn’t need to be this way.
“If the Government got a grip, got down to brass tacks and started doing their actual job, all these things could be avoided.”
Update from Port of Dover
The Port of Dover has said border processing times are now at around four hours.
Why is there gridlock at Dover again and will it always be like this?
The delays coincided with the start of the Easter holidays for many schools, which brought a surge of coaches to the Kent port
The Port of Dover declared a Critical Incident and says it “has been working round the clock with the ferry operators and border agencies to get coach passengers on their way, with extra sailings being put on overnight to help clear the backlog”.
There is no longer any backlog of cars and trucks, but the statement from the port added: “There remain pockets of coaches still waiting to be processed with smaller volumes of coaches expected today.”
Our travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:
Keir Starmer urges government to ‘get a grip’ on delays at Dover
Labour’s Keir Starmer urged the government to “get a grip” on the situation at Dover as coach traffic faced “significant delays” that could last up to 16 hours.
Thousands of travellers were queuing at the port as the Easter getaway begins, after a critical incident was declared overnight on Friday.
Operators P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways reported delays to ferry and coach services, citing bad weather and hold-ups at French border controls as partly responsible.
Later on Saturday morning, a spokesperson said that queues were easing.
Keir Starmer urges government to ‘get a grip’ on delays at Dover
Labour’s Keir Starmer urged the government to “get a grip” on the situation at Dover as coach traffic faced “significant delays” that could last up to 16 hours. Thousands of travellers were queuing at the port as the Easter getaway begins, after a critical incident was declared overnight on Friday. Operators P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways reported delays to ferry and coach services, citing bad weather and hold-ups at French border controls as partly responsible. Later on Saturday morning, a spokesperson said that queues were easing. Sign up to our newsletters.
Why Brexit is to blame for holiday traffic chaos at Dover
Simon Calder, also known as The Man Who Pays His Way, explains the reason behind the hours-long queues at Dover this weekend.
When it’s the start of the Easter holidays and you’re a transport hub and you’re trending on Twitter, you know things are not going well.
Thousands of coach passengers endured a miserable wait, many of them through the night. Factors as diverse as stormy weather and the French were blamed for preventing travellers from getting away on much-needed holidays.
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2023-04-02 15:45:08Z
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