Drivers at the Port of Dover faced queues of over three hours in sweltering heat on Saturday after French police suspended new EU border checks. More than 18,000 travelers were expected to arrive at the port through Friday and Saturday for the bank holiday getaway, leading to significant delays.
Queues and Delays
Authorities warned of delays lasting several hours, with queues reported for all ferry operators and at the check-in plaza for tourist traffic at the Kent port. By midday Saturday, processing times at the port's buffer zone had dropped to 50 minutes, but congestion on surrounding roads meant drivers faced a two-hour queue to access the port, resulting in a total wait of nearly three hours.
Suspension of EU Entry and Exit System
Passengers and motorists were spared additional checks after Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) suspended the EU's entry and exit system (EES) in an effort to reduce wait times. In a post on X, the port announced: 'We are pleased that Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) have responded positively by invoking the Article 9 clause of the EES regulations. While conventional border checks will still be undertaken, this will now enable PAF to significantly reduce the border processing time.'
The suspension means travelers will be processed normally and will not have to provide fingerprints and facial biometrics. At both the Port of Dover and the Le Shuttle terminal in Folkestone, passengers and drivers pass through juxtaposed controls, allowing them to clear the French border before crossing the Channel. Under the new Entry and Exit system, third-country nationals are required to register their passport at their first point of arrival into the Schengen area. However, EES self-registration machines are not yet operational in the UK.
Expert Analysis
Travel expert Simon Calder told Sky News that Police Aux Frontieres had attempted to register passengers manually using 11 checkpoints but have now reverted to traditional 'wet-stamping' of passports to ease queues that were building on Friday and Saturday morning.
Heatwave Adds to Misery
The tropical heatwave added to travelers' discomfort as motorists waited to board ferries to the continent, with temperatures hovering just under 30°C in Dover. Around 3.4 million journeys were expected on Sunday, with a further 3.1 million trips on bank holiday Monday. According to the RAC, six in ten drivers were not planning a leisure trip over the weekend, with only five percent citing rising fuel costs due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the world's oil chokepoint. The RAC added that the worst affected roads for congestion were likely to be the M1, M25, M5, and M6, with anticlockwise journeys on the London orbital motorway expected to take twice as long as on an average weekend.
