Holidaymakers have been warned to expect more lengthy delays if they are trying to cross the Channel next weekend, one of the busiest weekends of the year. Toby Howe, senior highways manager at Kent County Council and tactical lead at the Kent Resilience Forum, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Folkstone and Dover roads are “all looking good this morning” and the motorways are running freely, but he issued a warning for the days ahead.
“We do have some lorries queueing outside Dover for the Port of Dover but that’s normal for a Monday morning but through traffic is able to travel as normal,” he said. “The town of Dover is free-running and yes, all the roads around are running free.”
However, Mr Howe then warned that next weekend is likely to be “very busy”. “It’s the second busiest getaway weekend of the summer holidays,” he said.
“As we’ve just found out the weekend just gone, traffic numbers travelling across the channel were back to pre-pandemic levels and with the increased checks it is slower to get through so it takes very little to cause those tailbacks.” On what the rest of the summer could bring, Mr Howe told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Basically it’s a very vulnerable situation, it takes very little to cause further issues.
“So, for example, last Friday night we had the Port of Dover telling us there was a lack of resource at the port but we then had a serious crash on the motorway as well so those two things together then really compounded the situation, so you only need another crash on the road or maybe a train breaks down or there’s a power failure somewhere for it then to become a big problem.”
On what is needed to avoid this happening, Mr Howe said: “We shouldn’t really be having to use our roads as lorry and car parks. We shouldn’t really have to have queues of traffic due to all of this, so we need more infrastructure in place.
“We’re really in a difficult position in England that Port of Dover and Eurotunnel have very limited space. Over in France, they have a lot more space so they are able to expand and to allow more space with facilities but we don’t have that luxury in Kent. So the Kent Resilience Forum and Kent County Council are working very closely with Government to actually look at what can be done in the future, but as you say that can’t be done overnight.”
