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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Milo Boyd & Estel Farell-Roig

Huge queues at Dover as shortage of ferries and bad weather spark scenes of chaos

Would-be ferry passengers have been stuck at a standstill for hours due to huge queues leading into Dover.

Weather problems and ferry shortages caused by issues at P&O have led to enormous tailbacks at the port, which have pushed back into the town's centre.

Miles of lorries are now clogging up roads in the Kent town and some frustrated motorists spoke on social media of eight hour delays as the port of Dover was left gridlocked.

Under Operation Brock - which was introduced to manage the deal with traffic disruption caused by post-Brexit paperwork issues - the motorway remains closed to anything other than freight between Junction 8 for Leeds Castle and Maidstone Services and Junction 9 for Ashford.

Have you been caught up in the delays? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk

The tailbacks have been caused in part by suspended P&O ferry services (PA)

Those living in the area had hoped they'd seen the last of Brock, which sees parts of the A2 and M20 turned into a two way traffic system.

The system has had to be reinstated due to the suspension of P&O Ferry services following the firm's sudden dismissal of its British staff.

P&O Ferries are not operating out of Dover, following failed safety checks with its new crews, with the firm yet to be given permission to resume sailings to France using cheaper agency staff.

The ferry company has urged its customers to still come to Dover where they will be allocated a space on a rival service.

Those who have attempted to reach the port have found themselves stuck in the overwhelmed traffic system, worsened by increased Easter holiday demand.

Some frustrated motorists spoke on social media of eight hour delays as the port of Dover was left gridlocked.

One woman wrote to Irish Ferries: "I have now been sitting waiting for over five hours in a queue at Dover waiting to get on your ferry.

"What a fiasco. Your site says the 6.55 am ferry was on time. Why am I waiting at 10.03 to still get through the barrier? This is my first and now last time using a ferry!"

P&O Ferry services have been suspended after the firm fired 800 staff on the spot (PA)

A man, who lives in the area, tweeted: "Gridlocked yet again!

"Residence can’t get to work/doctors/shopping!! Not to mention the poor lorry drivers! Why is this still happening!!!"

Another woman added: “Don’t come to Dover all routes in are completely gridlocked.”

Rob Howbrook from Dover said on Twitter: "People cannot get to work due to lorries blocking every route through town.

"It's a continuous failure by all agencies to manage the traffic into Dover when there are issues in the channel."

Graham Adams added: "The worst issue is the gridlock we are now experiencing locally with parts of Dover and Folkestone completely jammed up. Each time this happens nobody seems to think about the wider knock on effects."

A Department for Transport spokesman said that they are aware of queues at Dover, and that the Kent Resilience Forum "are working to minimise any disruption by deploying temporary traffic-management measures as standard."

Operation Brock is at a stand still with reported waiting times of nearly six hours (UkNewsinPictures)

The road is closed to all non-freight traffic heading Eastbound. The London bound side of the road remains open to all traffic, however.

A diversion route has now been put in place for all non-freight vehicles, which takes them to the A20.

Vehicles that are non-freight, are being diverted to use the A20, and all freight comes off at junction 8 to then be sent back down into the holding areas. All eastbound traffic on the A20, however, is being diverted to the A259 past the Park Farm industrial estate and then onto the A260.

Operation Brock is activated as lorries queue on the M20 in Ashford (PA)

There are also delays on the A20 Roundhill Tunnel Eastbound closed due to traffic management to prevent stationary queues inside the tunnel from the M20, junction 13 at Folkestone to the A260 Canterbury Road, Hawkinge/Alkham heading towards Dover.

There are also problems on the A20 Eastbound at Folkestone to the A20 / A260 / White Horse Hill at Hawkinge/Alkham, Hawkinge.

Some ferry services remain suspended at the Port of Dover following P&O Ferries sacking of 800 seafarers (PA)

An update from P&O Ferries on Twitter said: “Services (between Dover and Calais) today remain cancelled. Please arrive as booked, we will get you away on an alternative carrier asap.

“Once at the port please head to the DFDS (Dover) or P&O (Calais) check in booths. We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.”

The situation with P&O has been worsened by difficult weather conditions on the Channel overnight.

The issues have caused hours of delays (PA)

Ferry firm DFDS warned customers not to travel to the port.

DFDS Ferries tweeted: "Due to adverse weather & technical issues, we are currently experiencing delays on all of our crossings. We are advising our customers not to travel to the port unless absolutely essential. We can offer effected customers a free change to an alternative crossing."

One DFDS ship hit a berth in Dunkirk on Thursday evening due to high winds and had to be taken out of service and repairs are not expected to be completed until Monday or Tuesday.

Eurotunnel Le Shuttle is also reporting hour-long delays ahead of check in. Eurotunnel Le Shuttle tweeted: "We are currently experiencing issues with our system at check-in.

"If you're travelling from Folkestone, there is currently about 1 hour wait pre check-in. Apologies for this."

The Port of Dover Travel twitter account warned that approach roads are "very busy" and that people local traffic should "use alternative routes where possible."

A view of lorries queued in Operation Brock on the M20 near Ashford (PA)

The suggested prompted ire from one person living in the town, who responded: "There are no alternative routes. You’ve clogged Dover.

"Stop letting trucks queue jump. Make them go back to Maidstone to queue."

This has been compounded by the severe weather conditions affecting the Easter getaway which is now "wreaking havoc" on the Kent and Dover roads, according to the MP.

A picture of the queues on Friday, April 1 (PA)

She has written to the Kent Resilience Forum requesting urgent active traffic management steps are put in place to Keep Dover Clear of gridlock and enable residents to get out and about in the town.

Natalie Elphicke said: "The traffic disruption caused by P&O's actions is very serious. Coupled with adverse weather conditions and the Easter get-away traffic the situation has become severe. This can be expected to continue for the next few days.

"I am pressing the Kent Resilience Forum to Keep Dover Clear with active roads management while the situation continues.

"The problems have caused an unacceptable impact on our community, particularly at Whitfield, Aycliffe, Capel-Le-Ferne and in Dover town itself.

"The traffic gridlock again underlines the need for urgent upgrades to the Whitfield roundabout and A2, as well as disbanding the Dover TAP which is unfair on residents of Aycliffe. There needs to be stronger road resilience and capacity for traffic management across the Dover area.

"It is a credit to our Port and related businesses that they are so successful, but the adverse impact on the community when things go wrong needs to be addressed too."

Traffic in Dover  is at a standstill (UkNewsinPictures)

The travel misery is likely to impact those who are flying this week, with airline passengers warned to expect long waits at British airports over the Easter holiday period due to a chronic shortage of check-in staff and security personnel.

"We do think that there will be queues at peak times over the Easter period," Karen Dee, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, told the BBC.

She said the industry needed to recruit "tens of thousands" of staff as it scales-up after Britain's Covid-19 restrictions on travel were removed.

London's Heathrow airport alone needed another 12,000 staff, she said.

"We've started this process some time a go, but actually with those scale of numbers, particularly in a tight labour market, it is going to take us some time unfortunately," she added.

Lorries and motorists are also facing long delays to board ferries at the Port of Dover.

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