Dover. It's what we wanted.

[IT Minion]

And, as @Mottie has already said, happened before Brexit.

He's said that, but when has it happened without epic bad weather or some form of strike?

This is different, this is just being busy, leading to day long delays. I don't remember that happening.

 

[SirGalahad]

And, as @Mottie has already said, happened before Brexit.




British governments rarely do; it's why our infrastructure is crumbling, and has been for decades.


So, your position is that it's the fault of British governments, past and present, and not that of Brexit.

If you voted Leave then, what problems did you lay at the door of the EU, that your Leave vote was intended to solve?


(above, edited to clarify meaning).

If you voted Leave then, did you do so to not have to be "dictated to" by, among others, the French?

And, if you voted Leave, are you really now trying to dictate what the French do?

Your equating the problems were of the same size / issue / magnitude - well are they?

Last 40 odd years how many years have been under conservative rule and labour rule? Equating that the problem is equally attributable to both parties is disingenuous. Labour 13 years Torys 27 plus

 

[SirGalahad]

Brexit mantra there were delays before, but were they as frequent and as bad as they are now? so the situation is worse not better but wait on can't have that - look over there a dinghy.

 

[Brigadier]

Your equating the problems were of the same size / issue / magnitude - well are they?

Last 40 odd years how many years have been under conservative rule and labour rule? Equating that the problem is equally attributable to both parties is disingenuous. Labour 13 years Torys 27 plus

I'm not equating anything: I'm asking why vote for Brexit / Tories to solve problems that they acknowledged were nothing to do with the EU / a lot to do with the Tories in the first place.

 

[JonathanM]

It sounds like they are going to limit the number of passengers. Probably the only sensible option in the short term. There's no room to add more frontier control lanes to the six in the photo. They could add more of those small booths further up the queue, like the three they installed last summer.

EDIT: Does anyone know how those three little booths work. The one on the left seems to have its own lane. But what happens to cars in the other two?

EDIT 2: In fact, if you zoom in, it looks like the second booth also has an escape route.

EDIT 3: After perusing more photos it looks like they vary how many of the 3 small booths they use and then change the layout of the cones accordingly. I've only seen them use the left side of each of the small booths. I don't know whether both sides can be used.

 

[IT Minion]

It sounds like they are going to limit the number of passengers. Probably the only sensible option in the short term. There's no room to add more frontier control lanes to the six in the photo. They could add more booths further up the queue, like the three little ones, but I can't see how they can be as effective as you will still be stuck in the queue after being processed.

EDIT: Does anyone know how those three little booths work. The one on the left seems to have its own lane. But what happens to cars in the other two?

EDIT 2: In fact, if you zoom in, it looks like the second booth also has an escape route.

There's room for another 6. Funding was refused.

 

[JonathanM]

There's room for another 6. Funding was refused.

That's crazy for such a small amount of money. Less than was spent on just the planning stage for Boris' garden bridge. Presumably the government decided that funding such a development would amount to an admission that Brexit was causing a problem.

It would also have been a chance to make the queueing area look really smart, rather than the embarrassment it has turned into. I can see that those three small booths were added last summer (after funding was refused).

 

[JonathanM]

Simon Calder is travelling on a coach this lunchtime from Dover to Calais and he's providing updates on the Independent website. I don't think it will be as bad for coaches today. Last weekend was when all the school trips went, I think. Also, they have put up a temporary marquee which I think will double the border control processing capacity for coaches.

 

[Mottie]

So if all passports have to be stamped by the French border force when entering the EU so that a tally can be kept of the days a U.K. citizen has been there, presumably the passport also has to be stamped by the U.K. border force when returning so why aren’t we hearing of 12 hour queues in Calais? Is it because the UKBF is more efficient?

 

[JonathanM]

Frontier control processed his coach of about 50 people in 8 minutes. Everyone gets off the coach and goes into the building immediately to the right of the red coach in the photo a few posts above, where there are 3 immigration desks. It sounds like the 8 minutes was just for the processing and didn't include getting off and back onto the bus, but I'm not 100% on that.

I think once empty, the coach moves forward and collects the passengers once they have been through frontier control and come out of the exit, which is further along, allowing the next coach to get teed up and disgorge its passengers.

 

[motorbiking]

So if all passports have to be stamped by the French border force when entering the EU so that a tally can be kept of the days a U.K. citizen has been there, presumably the passport also has to be stamped by the U.K. border force when returning so why aren’t we hearing of 12 hour queues in Calais? Is it because the UKBF is more efficient?

No you stamp in and stamp out on the EU side.

If you enter a port without a border control, you report to the local police. You always had to present ID, just now there is the additional stamping in and out.

One police officer I spoke to jokingly offered to sell me his stamp to save my time. At least I think he was joking.

On the fruit n veg front. There is a big lawsuit going on over LIDLs implementation of SAP which had to be scrapped after 7 years of attempted implementation.

Obviously it failed due to brexit.

 

[JohnD]

On the fruit n veg front. There is a big lawsuit going on over LIDLs implementation of SAP which had to be scrapped after 7 years of attempted implementation.

I'm pretty sure that will not be responsible for shortages in Tesco and Aldi.

But making the conscious decision to make trade with our neighbours more difficult, costly, and time-consuming will obviously have had the desired effect.

It's what we wanted.

 

[JonathanM]

So if all passports have to be stamped by the French border force when entering the EU so that a tally can be kept of the days a U.K. citizen has been there, presumably the passport also has to be stamped by the U.K. border force when returning so why aren’t we hearing of 12 hour queues in Calais? Is it because the UKBF is more efficient?

I don't think that's the reason. A couple of days ago, I found a video of somebody doing the journey from Calais (I'm very sad!). There seemed to be two sets of border control, first the French one, then the UK one. I think it is the French border force who actually check and stamp the passport of anyone leaving the EU. Apparently, the UK border force are still doing the same checks on EU citizens at Calais that they did before Brexit, so just a quick glance to make sure the passport is valid. Also, there seemed to be 18 border control booths at both the French and the UK borders.

Maybe another reason we don't see such big queues at Calais is that perhaps the traffic is more evenly spread.

 

[Vinty]

Brexit mantra there were delays before, but were they as frequent and as bad as they are now? so the situation is worse not better but wait on can't have that - look over there a dinghy.

Probably quicker to get across the channel in a dinghy these days than through Dover.
I Blame the French.

 

[IT Minion]

So if all passports have to be stamped by the French border force when entering the EU so that a tally can be kept of the days a U.K. citizen has been there, presumably the passport also has to be stamped by the U.K. border force when returning so why aren’t we hearing of 12 hour queues in Calais? Is it because the UKBF is more efficient?

...or they haven't started returning yet?

I believe the exit stamp is also done by the French Authorities, not UKBF.

Also, yes, Calais is a much larger port with plenty of room and the port has built more infrastructure.