Calais and Dover services resume

Some of the restrictions under Operation Stack, a police scheme to limit disruption, were lifted after P&O ferries restarted regular crossings overnight.

Home Secretary Theresa May and her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve this week agreed to increase the joint intervention fund to improve security around the port and the Channel Tunnel.

But P&O said it was now running ferries in both directions between Dover and Calais around every two hours, although the firm fears it is only a temporary reprieve before action resumes.

Port of Dover officials admitted this morning that they had no idea when the industrial action – the second strike by ferry workers in a week – would end.

A 17-mile stretch of the M20 motorway in Kent has been turned into a giant lorry park, as more than 5,000 lorry drivers queue up.

The move was agreed after numerous some 3,000 migrants camping around the northern French port of Calais this week sought to take advantage of traffic jams caused by a French ferry workers strike to steal into stationary trucks.

He said: “Vehicles are moving at speed”.

He said: “I have been stuck here only since 8am but you could be here for up to 30 hours”.

“Whilst we appreciate the hard work from the police and port authorities in Dover and France, and we are working closely with them to transport as many passengers as possible through the alternative port of Dunkirk, some 20 miles east of Calais, the reality is that this situation is simply not acceptable and must not be allowed to continue”.

Meanwhile, Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association (RHA), travelled to Calais on Tuesday to see for himself the appalling conditions facing stranded United Kingdom hauliers. “We’re delighted to be back to business as usual”, he said.

The chaos was sparked after MyFerryLink workers started a wildcat strike on Monday in protest at expected job cuts in the French port city.

“What we have been doing today is continuing a very good, constructive collaboration that the United Kingdom and French governments have had in dealing with issues around Calais, particularly issues with migrants in Calais but also obviously the strike that has taken place in relation to MyFerryLink has exacerbated that situation”. If this means deployment of the armed forces then so be it.

With Britain experiencing blisteringly hot weather conditions, thousands of bottles of water and snack packs have been handed out to drivers as they face an indefinite wait to board ferries and shuttle trains to France.