University students from Manchester were among thousands of others forced to endure waits of eighteen hours at Dover as severe delays caused chaos.
The port of Dover, which declared a critical incident, said the hold-ups were 'due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume' after the severe traffic delays began on Friday (March 31) and continued throughout the weekend.
Groups of university students from across the country, including from Manchester, were among those forced to sit in a slow moving queue of coaches, go without food or water for hours on end and in some cases miss an entire day of their trips due to the major hold ups.
READ MORE "I won't be visiting again": People divided as Manchester's new tourist tax is introduced
One frustrated dad, Chris Sparks, whose daughter is a first year student at Manchester Metropolitan University and had booked her travels with a sports tour company, has told of the 'emotional' scenes she has described at the port and how she was initially meant to reach Croatia at 9am on Sunday morning - but has still not arrived.
"They left Manchester at around 3am on Saturday morning at got to the services at Dover for around 9.30am. They are using the services as a holding area essentially, where coach drivers are told to wait there before making their way to the port," he said.
"They were already worried before leaving because some of the coaches from the day before had been completely cancelled. At the services, there were still people that had been abandoned there from the night before.
"By about 12 o'clock they were approaching the buffer zone. It still took three hours just to get from the services to the port, and then they had to turn around because the coach driver was asked to go back and pick up some other students who had been abandoned. They arrived back to queue at the port for around 2pm, and sat there for five hours."
P&O Ferries told coach drivers to head straight to the port to join the buffer zone queues, where advance passenger information (API) would be taken, but warned there were hours of at least six or more hours.
The waits caused fed-up holidaymakers and worried parents to take to social media to criticise the delays, as thousands attempted to travel through the port on Easter getaways and school trips.
For Chris' daughter, as of 9pm on Sunday (April 2), she was still sat on the coach on the way to Croatia - 12 hours after the scheduled arrival time, causing her to miss the entire first day of the trip.
And from initially arriving at the Dover services at 9am on Saturday to eventually boarding the ferry at 3am on Sunday proved for an agonising 18 hour wait.
Chris added "These queues were so bad it was taking six hours just to travel 400 yards. On the human side, I feel so awful for people going through this or people that had their trips cancelled and had to make their own way home.
"My daughter called me at the services really upset by it all. Everyone was panicked and wondering what on earth they would do. There were school children confused and upset. The whole situation has been a nightmare.
"She is tired, and just exhausted. She hasn't just lost one day as she said she will crash when she gets to the hotel and probably not wake up until midday tomorrow, meaning she has actually missed a day and a half of the trip they paid for. There hasn't been any communication about what is going on."
Extra sailings were run overnight to try to clear the backlog but by Sunday morning the port still estimated some travellers would face waits of up to eight hours, depending on the ferry operator. Port officials said they had been 'working round the clock' with ferry operators and border agencies to try to get coach passengers on their way.
And earlier, Home Secretary Suella Braverman rejected suggestions that Brexit could be the cause of delays at the port as passengers endured long queues and cancelled trips.
P&O Ferries apologised for the wait times for coaches sailing from Dover, while DFDS said it had expected a busy weekend and advised passengers to allow extra time to complete border and check-in controls.
A statement from the port said: "The Port remains deeply frustrated by the continuing situation caused by a mix of lengthy immigration processes at the border and sheer volume of traffic, particularly on behalf of those who have waited for such a long time.
"We continue to offer our sincere apologies for the prolonged delays."
The latest statement from P&O Ferries updates on Sunday night read: "There is still approximately a 5 hour wait in the buffer zone at the entrance to the Port of Dover. We now have 20 coaches left for P&O Ferries. Once you are through to check in you will be on the next crossing to Calais. We apologise for the wait times."
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- 'I danced for regulars at a Moss Side pub - now I dance for Dua Lipa'
- Mum shares story behind amazing five stone weight loss transformation
- 'I work two jobs and get Universal Credit. It still isn't enough'
- 'Compo cash made me an alcoholic - I slept with a bag of cans like it was a teddy'
- 'Doctors said I had acid reflux and depression - then I was given a devastating diagnosis'
