Britons who wanted to return to the UK this weekend faced hours of waiting in the port of Calais. The reason is border controls, which have taken longer since Brexit.
Massive waiting times – up to six hours – run from the night from Saturday to Sunday, according to comments on social media. Ferry companies are warning that delays will continue until Sunday. P&O Ferries, which operates a ferry service between Calais and Dover, wrote on Twitter: “We apologize for the wait times in Calais (…) It was due to queues at border waiting points.”
According to the company, two more flights have been scheduled to take off at night, so that passengers who missed their boat can be brought back to the UK. On Sunday afternoons there were waiting times of 45 to 60 minutes.
Danish rival DFDS said it was expecting a busy weekend. Passengers have been advised to be at the ferry port at least two hours in advance.
Tensions in France and the United Kingdom
The French province reports an “unexpected technical problem” in the tunnel below the Canal this weekend, but operator Eurotunnel denied this.
There were also long traffic jams in Calais last weekend. Then the French blamed British customs officers for opening too few checkpoints to swallow up all the traffic.
In July, there were massive traffic jams on the other side of the canal, in Dover. This caused tensions between France and the United Kingdom. The latter accused the French of “spoiling” British family holidays due to staff shortages.
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