Dover

There have been massive queues over The weekend at The ports of Dover and Folkestone as holidaymakers and lorry drivers tried to get to France.

The AA motoring group has now raised concerns That The delays will continue into The summer.

But what has been causing The disruption?

The French authorities have blamed The delays on The additional checking and stamping of British passports.

The UK and France have - That means checks to enter France are done in Dover and other British ports (by French officials), while checks to enter The UK are done in French ports (by UK officials).

Before Brexit, there was much less need for rigorous checks at The Border , because of freedom of movement. This is The Automatic right for EU citizens to move freely within The European Union .

Since Brexit, UK citizens no longer have this right (and neither do EU citizens coming to The UK).

" Prior to Brexit there was a deemed right of entry - we weren't in Schengen [The agreement which removed checks at shared borders] but there were still very minimal checks, " says Lucy Morton , from The ISU - The Union for borders, immigration and customs staff.

But now French officials:

Checking each person can take up to a minute, rather than a few seconds, transport expert Simon Calder told Bbc Breakfast .

A Downing Street spokesman said The travel disruption was caused by A Number of factors and not " necessitated by leaving The European Union ".

He added: " It is obviously for individual governments to decide How To carry out checks at The Border , our view is these should be done proportionately and sensibly. "

Port of Dover chief executive Doug Bannister said there had been inadequate staffing from French border police.

And both of The Conservative leadership candidates have put The blame on The French authorities.

Georges-Francois Leclerc, The Top official for The Hauts-de-France region - which covers Calais - did acknowledge That some staff were delayed getting to their Dover booths due to technical issues, but only by 75 minutes.

Ahead of Brexit, The government was warned there could be queues at times after The ended on 31 December 2020.

The National Audit Office: " The government modelled some scenarios which showed That queues at Dover and Eurotunnel could be one to two hours in January 2021 but become much longer in The summer months, especially at Dover . "

This level of queuing did not materialise Last Year as Covid restrictions led to reduced travel.

But now That passenger volumes are back to normal, The effect is being felt. Mr Bannister has said That Dover planned for The impact of longer checks and communicated with The French authorities over increased staffing levels.

However, Pierre-Henri Dumont, The MP for Calais , claimed in a tweet That there had been a lack of investment in checkpoints by The UK government.

In December 2020, That The UK government had turned down a £33m plan for more French passport booths at Dover - a doubling of The total from five to 10.

The from The Department for Transport saying The Department " did not comment on individual bids".

Mr Bannister said extra money needed to be spent on The British side.

" We do require greater investment in The Port and greater investment throughout Kent to manage traffic. "

Last week That The Port of Dover was working with French authorities to increase booth capacity by 50%.

The M20, one of The main roads down to Dover , has been partially shut to act as a giant lorry park for freight vehicles awaiting post-Brexit checks, before travelling to France.

On Friday, there was a serious crash on The motorway which further reduced The Number of lanes.

Toby Howe, Senior Highways Manager at Kent County Council, and tactical lead at The Kent Resilience Forum told The Today programme: " It is a very vulnerable situation. It takes very little to cause further issues. "

He Said That France is able to deal with delays better as they have much more space at Calais and added " really we shouldn't have to be using our roads as lorry and car parks. "

There could be worse disruption in The Future .

From The End of May 2023 The EU's will come into place. It will see travellers facing biometric checks before travelling to France.

The Authorities at Dover fear That if The Checks require travellers to Get Out of vehicles there could be serious disruption and delay at The Port .

Also The Will come into force at The same time, meaning British passport holders will have to fill in relevant forms, pay a fee and be approved before travelling to The EU.

Source of news: bbc.com