EU expected to delay fingerprinting and facial recognition checks at Dover

Motorists, truck and coach drivers are likely to be relieved at any delay in introducing additional checks at Dover and Eurostar, after long delays at Easter. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

The EU is expected to delay introducing fingerprinting and facial recognition checks in Dover amid fears it could mar travel to next year’s summer Olympics in Paris.

The move, which will be discussed by the EU in June, would come as a relief to coach operators and transport bosses, whose passengers endured delays of up to 14 hours at Easter trying to go to Calais, and who feared “pandemonium” if fingerprinting were added to passport checks at Dover, Eurotunnel in Folkestone and the Eurostar terminal in London.

Doug Bannister, the chief executive at the Port of Dover, said a repeat or escalation of the congestion at Easter would be “unacceptable”.