'Brexit to blame' for Dover traffic jams, says union

This weekend's traffic chaos in Dover is a 'predictable' consequence of Brexit as France 'regains control' of its border, an immigration union chief has said.

A major incident has been declared at the Port of Kent as long queues are expected after queues of up to six hours on Friday and thousands of families attempt to escape at the start of the summer holiday season.

The traffic jam has been blamed on a shortage of border control personnel on the French side of the Channel.

But the general secretary of the 'Immigration Services Union' Lucy Moreton said such disruptions were only to be expected after the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

She told the show< em>Today from BBC Radio 4 that Brexit meant that French checks on British travelers had been tightened from the familiar "minimum" checks of the period from the EU.

"There is no doubt that controls are tougher than 'they were before Brexit,' she said. “We are now of course outside the EU, and they have the right to treat us like they treat any other non-EU traveller. They therefore exercise the same level of control over us as we - and always have - over them."

Ms Moreton added: "It is not our border that we have regained control of. In fact, France has regained control of its border in this regard.

“It's democracy. There was a vote. Some voted for. Some voted against. This is one of the results that was reasonably predictable. And this is the moment he chose to bite.

Port of Dover manager Doug Bannister said travelers could again face five or six hour delays trying to board ferries today. , as more vehicles were expected on Saturday than on Friday, and a large backlog remains to be cleared.

Asked about the possibility of waits of this length, he told Today: "It is possible.< /p>

"We expected today to be a busier day than yesterday. Yesterday we processed about 8,500 outgoing cars. Today we were expected to be around 10,000 so it's going to be a very busy day here."

Kent County Council Leader Roger Gough said Saturday morning he There were around 3,000 HGVs parked on the M20 and they were being "slowly moved" to the embarkation areas.He said there was also disruption at the Eurotunnel terminal near Folkestone , as well as ripple effects on local traffic.

He said the incident was part of a "much larger problem" with movement across the English Channel, which may require a "big program" of change to maximize port capacity.

"This is a serious disruption we have at the moment," Mr Gough said. "This is not the first and it will not, I fear, be the last."

Mr Bannister confirmed that Brexit had increased bureaucratic controls at the border, slowing the movement of vehicles, but said plans were in place to ensure the port should be able to cope "for the most part" during the busy summer season.

"We are operating in a post -Brexit, which means passports have to be checked, they have to be stamped," he said.

"One of the challenges we see is that if we don't have 'sufficient resource capacity at all stages of the process, the very first thing in the morning, then we can lose the queue very, very quickly and create the impact that we felt yesterday across the county.

"In a post-Brexit environment, there will be an increase in border transaction times. What we've done in response to that is create more border capacity so that overall the...