The French border officials
Doug Bannister, CEO of the Port of Dover, blamed border control officials, Police aux Frontières, for failing to provide sufficient numbers to staff the passport booths.
The port boss said on Friday: “The cause of it is French immigration controls. We’ve been let down this morning despite the planning of the last several months to get ready for this day.”
He said there had been long-term planning for weeks for the summer holiday, which was expected to be the busiest day for two years. Only four of nine booths for the French border controls for travellers leaving the UK were reported to have been staffed on Friday morning, which port officials say led to the backlogs.
The prefect for the Hauts-de-France region, Georges-François Leclerc, said it was incorrect to say that the French had failed to mobilise sufficient border police, but some officials were delayed by an hour in arriving at their posts.
The episode has exposed wider capacity vulnerabilities at Dover.
Brexit
There is some bemusement in France at the claim that approaching routes to Dover became gridlocked and a “critical incident” declared by the port because four or five passport control officials were late for work.
Pierre-Henri Dumont, the Calais MP, said delays were caused by Brexit and the requirement to stamp every passport. He said yesterday it was “fake news” to blame the French authorities. He also said Dover struggled to cope at peak demand.
Disruption at the port may get worse when new biometric checks are brought in as part of the new European Union entry/exit system (EES) for third party requirements. These may require people to leave their vehicles for biometric checks similar to those in place at airports. MPs warned the new checks at Dover could cause “confusion, disruption and delay”.
The checks were due to have been implemented this year, but have already been delayed. UK immigration officials and Dover port managers accept that Brexit is a factor because of the additional checks required.
As one immigration official observed this weekend, it was the weekend that Brexit “chose to bite”.
Dover port
Bosses at Dover bid for £33m after Brexit for more money to upgrade the port, including new passport control booths, but only received £33,000 in December 2020 bid allocations. Kent Council is concerned that the port struggles to cope at peak demand and can easily “fall over”. It is hoping to source new funds to upgrade the port.
Despite failing to secure the investment required, Dover carefully prepared for the summer holiday getaway. It recently installed additional temporary passport booths and reviewed operations to ensure that traffic flows as smoothly as possible.
The UK government
Ministers have been quick to blame the French turning up late for work for the backlogs and traffic gridlocks, but face questions over whether Dover has been adequately funded to cope with Brexit. They also face French criticism that the problems are because of Brexit.
When the Department for Transport was asked yesterday why it did not approve Dover’s bid for £33m investment, an official said the department “did not comment on individual bids”.
The French transport minister Clément Beaune tweeted on Saturday afternoon: “Mais la France n’est pas responsable du Brexit [France is not responsible for Brexit].”
