Travellers have told of their disappointment after being stranded for hours at the Port of Dover as high levels of Easter holiday coach traffic and increased border controls caused lengthy delays.
The Port has said it was “deeply frustrated” after officials declared a critical incident on Friday night. The huge delays were “due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume”, they added.
Dafydd Francis, a PE teacher from Seven Sisters, Neath, is one of 33 people travelling from South Wales to Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria.
They arrived at the port at 11pm on Friday night and were still awaiting boarding on Saturday lunchtime.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Mr Francis, 49, told the PA news agency.
“We will arrive at the resort 14 hours late if we are lucky… I have organised various trips since 1998 for school and family and friends, approximately 50 trips. We will fly next time.
“We all feel angry but shellshocked at the situation.”
“We've been waiting for 12 hours already and it'll be at least another two or three before we get on the ferry," one woman told Sky News.
"It's very frustrating. I'm an environmental campaigner, I forced my family to get on this bus instead of flying.
"It's supposed to be an easy overnight trip, but it's absolute carnage and there's no excuse for it at all."
A spokesman for the port said later on Saturday: “Coach waiting time is still several hours, but tourist cars are getting through OK.”
P&O Ferries also apologised for the wait times for coaches sailing from Dover, while DFDS said it is expecting a busy weekend and advised passengers to allow extra time to complete border and check-in controls.
P&O Ferries tweeted that it was providing refreshments to coach passengers waiting at the cruise terminal and working on getting food and drink to passengers waiting in the buffer zone at the entrance to the port.
The Port of Dover said on Saturday morning that coach traffic was suffering “significant delays”.
It said in a statement: “The Port of Dover is deeply frustrated by last night’s and this morning’s situation and particularly so on behalf of all the ferry operators’ coach passengers who have had to endure such a long wait at the port.
“Whilst freight and car traffic was processed steadily regardless of the additional challenging weather conditions and high seasonal volumes, coach traffic suffered significant delays due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume.
“Despite considerable pre-planning with our ferry operators, border agency partners and the Kent Resilience Forum and the success of similar plans for processing substantial numbers of coaches during the most recent half term period, the additional coach bookings taken by ferry operators for Easter, has impacted operations for the port.
“Through the ferry operators and the port, food and drink has been provided to those coach passengers caught up in the border queues.
“We offer our sincere apologies for the prolonged delays that people have endured and continue to work with all of our partners to get all passengers on their way as quickly as possible.”
Sir Keir Starmer urged the Government to “get a grip” of the situation at Dover.
“I really feel for people trying to get through Dover. There will have been families who have booked holidays and now they are frustrated yet again and I think the nature of the frustration will be ‘not again’,” he said.
“This is not the first time there have been problems at Dover. The Government needs to get a grip of this.
“You can’t have every summer holiday, every Easter holiday, the same old problem. And so the Government needs to get a grip on this and actually help people out in who are just trying to get away for a few days holiday.”
A Government spokesperson said: “The UK Government remains in close contact with ferry operators, the French authorities, and the Kent Resilience Forum, regarding delays at the Port of Dover.
“The port has advised that it remains busy, but the situation has improved significantly since yesterday, with coaches being processed at a much quicker rate.
“We recommend passengers check the latest advice from their operators before travelling.”
DFDS Seaways announced on Twitter just after 9pm that the wait time for coaches was approximately seven hours from arrival at the port.
A spokesperson for the operator said: “The queues at Dover today have been as a result of bad weather causing delays to sailings, combined with high volumes of traffic, and particularly coach groups.
“DFDS is working to keep passengers up to date via its website and social media channels, and is transporting passengers on the next available sailing once they have checked in.
“It has also been working with coach operators to speed up the check in process for coach passengers.”
Many families heading to Europe for Easter have chosen take ferry and train journeys across the English Channel to avoid expected strike chaos at UK airports.
Planned journeys by ferry have risen by 25 per cent compared to this time last year, Brittany Ferries said.
Eurotunnel also said its bookings were “significantly” up on last Easter, with yesterday the busiest day of the year as schools broke up.
On the roads, the AA has predicted up to 15 million car trips a day will be made this weekend, with an increase on last year’s numbers expected if warmer weather returns
Meanwhile, travel plans for thousands of Britons have been plunged into turmoil by strikes by French air traffic controllers and Heathrow Airport security staff.
Members of the Unite union, including security officers at London Heathrow Terminal 5 and campus security guards who check cargo entering the airport, walked out yesterday in a dispute over pay.
Scores of flights have been cancelled as a result of the industrial action, which involves 1,400 staff members and will last until Easter Sunday on 9 April.
Heathrow has said that it is implementing “contingency plans” and drafting 1,000 extra staff into terminals to cope with the impact of the strikes.
