Massive disruption returned to our roads last weekend, as a result of long check-in delays at the Port of Dover. The lengthy queues were caused by detailed passenger and passport checks being carried out by the French border force at the ferry port. This was in response to the heightened level of security threat in France following the terrible attack in Nice on Bastille Day. It is completely understandable that the French authorities would wish to carry out detailed checks on people entering their country following such an incident, but they must make sure that there are enough officials in place to conduct them. I was disturbed to hear that at one point last Saturday, there was only one French immigration official in Dover checking passports. This was one of the reasons that the queues were as long as they were.
It is completely unacceptable for people to have to wait up to 14 hours to board a ferry at Dover. As this was the first weekend after the schools had broken up for summer, many of these were families setting off on their holidays. Once again it calls into question the contingency planning for such a scenario. We know from experience that delays are more likely during the peak holiday season and we should plan for that accordingly. The Home Office also needs to follow up with the French authorities so that there is an agreement in place whereby, if they are unable to provide the appropriate number of people to check papers at their control points, that we will do it for them, and send them the bill for the time of the British officials involved.
The problems at Dover, whilst different from the queueing of lorries in Operation Stack, highlights the fact that we currently have no alternative solution to managing traffic that has been held up on its journey to the port, other than by parking it on the main roads. Just as with lorries, car drivers would rather get as close to the port as possible and queue, rather than wait for the backlog to clear.
The government has confirmed that it is to go ahead with the £250million investment in the Operation Stack relief lorry park at the Stanford West site. Highways England is planning to begin work on this in the autumn with the the lorry park starting to come into operational use by next summer. The lorry park will have the capacity to hold up to 4,000 lorries, the equivalent number to the vehicles that are held in phases 1 and 2 of Operation Stack; apart from a few days last summer, at the peak of the disturbances, we have never before needed to bring into force anything other than phases 1 and 2 of Stack.
However, looking at the problems at Dover, if the lorry park was not needed for the stacking of HGVs, we should also put it to use to hold holiday traffic, rather than just leaving it parked on the A20. This would not only free up the local roads, but allow families to rest in a place where facilities could be provided for them, whilst they wait to continue their onward journey to Dover. By creating this new infrastructure, we will give ourselves far more options on how to manage these kinds of problems in the future.