Holidaymakers looking to get away for Easter are facing major disruption to travel, as airlines cancel more than 100 flights a day because of staff shortages and ferry operators struggle to meet demand following the suspension of P&O Ferries services.
The rise in passenger numbers over the spring break has coincided with high rates of staff absences due to the latest wave of Covid infections.
Manchester airport said travellers would continue to face waits of 60-90 minutes to get through security over the next two weeks, while Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham airports face similar disruption. Airport bosses are encouraging passengers to arrive at least three hours before their flight to make it through to the departure lounge on time.
On Saturday, British Airways and EasyJet grounded more than 100 flights between them, affecting around 15,000 passengers.
The ferry company DFDS reported delays of two hours on its service from Dover to Calais on Friday, with similar delays expected throughout the weekend. Thousands of lorries trying to reach the port of Dover were still being held on Saturday as a 23-mile (37km) stretch of road into Dover, the M20 southbound, remained closed.
“Alongside the beginning of the Easter holidays and smaller-scale incidents throughout the transport network, it has created a queue … in excess of 20 miles and around 2,000 lorries,” the Road Haulage Association told Sky News.
The Spanish haulage body Fenadismer said its drivers outside the port remained trapped inside trucks “without being able to access adequate resting places or minimum hygienic and sanitary conditions”. The company urged the European Commission to put pressure on Britain to resolve the delays.
Meanwhile, people travelling to France via the Channel tunnel have been advised to bring food and drink.
Toby Howe, the tactical lead at the Kent Resilience Forum, also advised travellers to France to “allow a lot of extra time”. “Make sure you have got some food and drink because there will be delays,” he told BBC Breakfast. “A lot of the minor roads, therefore, are chock-a-block.”
A technical issue with the website used to process post-Brexit travel documentation had initially increased delays at the port, he added, but that matter had since been resolved.
Richard Ballantyne, the CEO of the British Ports Association, called for the Dover delays to be categorised as a “major incident” so they could be cleared more quickly.
“If there is a major incident, then the local resilience forum would get more resourcing,” he told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday. “The police, the national highways, the port would be able to channel more resources to ease the situation.”
The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, urged operators on Friday to “redouble their efforts” to get “people away as smoothly as possible”, but Labour accused the government of being “missing in action”.
The shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said on Saturday: “Tory ministers need to step up and act to ease the disruption. The government need to begin clearing the huge backlogs in security checks so airport staff can safely begin work.
“And they should be holding emergency talks with ferry operators and Eurotunnel to boost capacity following P&O’s shameful action.”
P&O Ferries suspended operations in March after a criminal and civil investigation was launched into it sacking 800 members of staff without notice. It previously accounted for a third of travel capacity at Dover.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “P&O’s unacceptable actions have resulted in its vessels being detained, causing backlogs and traffic jams which would be substantially alleviated if its fleet was operating normally. It’s left operators, local authorities and, of course, government having to clear up the mess.
“That, alongside bad weather and the Easter rush, has meant that roads are exceptionally busy. We are receiving real-time updates as the Kent Resilience Forum, police and regional leaders work around the clock to ease disruption and support those affected.”
