Massive delays stall England to France vehicle traffic

Travellers were warned that they still face delays of several hours if travelling to Dover and border force staff in the United Kingdom have been drafted in to help with the additional security checks to try and get things moving.

“We are also working closely with Highways England, Kent Police and the Port of Dover to tackle the disruption”.

French President Francois Hollande will reassess security measures once a week all summer amid fears of new violence after a deadly Bastille Day attack in Nice, and heightened French security checks were causing severe delays Saturday for those trying to cross the English Channel.

She added: “The scenes which we saw at the weekend at the port of Dover, with holidaymakers delayed for completely unacceptable lengths of time, must never be allowed to happen again”.

Many travelers took to Twitter to vent their frustration.

He tweeted: “So 15 hours in #A20 #dovertraffic and this is what greets us at French security checks”.

Officials warned Sunday that motorists face waits of five hours or longer to enter the Dover ferry port or the Channel Tunnel.

Heightened security checks on vehicles traveling to France in the wake of last week’s Nice attacks were partly to blame for the significant delays, but it emerged that there were nearly no French border staff on duty to check vehicles.

The delays are slowing travel at the height of the summer vacation season when many Britons travel to Europe by vehicle.

Helen Deeble said they were at fault for not providing enough staff for security checks at their border controls.

At one stage only one French officer was available to check passengers on hundreds of coaches, resulting in each coach taking 40 minutes to process, Kent County Council confirmed.

There were reports of chronically understaffed French border controls and passengers spending the night in their cars.

The Home Office said UK Border Force officials are in place to help but added they can not say how many as they do not go into “operational details”.

On social media, some asked whether the lack of staffing at the border was a French payback for Britain’s recent vote to leave the EU.

Kent Police have issued a warning to motorists planning to travel through the port to carry food and water and check with travel operators before setting off.

A police helicopter dropped water bottles to stranded drivers, while volunteers from a local charity were handing out granola bars and water.

Despite temperatures peaking at around 20.2C (68.36F) on Saturday, police advised people to stay in their cars.