Gridlock at Dover: New EU Border Checks Suspended After Bank Holiday Chaos
Gridlock at Dover: New EU Border Checks Suspended After Bank Holiday Chaos
Travellers at Dover face massive gridlock and heat alerts as new EU border checks cause 5-hour delays. Officials have suspended the rules to ease traffic.
Hundreds of families heading out of the UK for the bank holiday weekend found themselves trapped in total gridlock at the Port of Dover this Saturday. As the busiest day of the year so far, more than 8,000 travellers attempted to cross the channel, only to be met by significant delays caused by the introduction of new EU border checks.
The chaos stems from the first major holiday period since the implementation of the EU’s Entry-Exit System (EES). This new protocol requires travellers to have their fingerprints registered and photographs taken upon entry. However, with the full digital system not yet fully operational and awaiting the installation of specific French technology, border police were initially forced to create traveller records manually, leading to a massive bottleneck at the eastern docks.
Wait times quickly spiraled out of control. Many holiday-makers reported waiting over two hours just to reach the port gates, with at least another 90 minutes required to clear passport control. For some families, the total delay neared five hours. The situation was further exacerbated by unusually high temperatures for May, reaching 25 degrees Celsius, which prompted an amber heat alert for the South East.
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, confirmed that the congestion through the town had become so severe that emergency mitigations were necessary. By approximately 9:30 AM, French authorities made the tactical decision to suspend the new digital entry-exit checks entirely, reverting to traditional, analogue passport stamping in a bid to clear the growing backlog.
Travelers described the scene as frustrating and exhausting. One passenger, Rosamund Hall, who was traveling with her four-year-old son, noted that all roads leading into the port were essentially turned into parking lots. While the suspension of the EES checks has provided some relief to the queues, officials warn that the volume of traffic remains exceptionally high as the bank holiday getaway continues.
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