UK authorities have imposed special traffic measures to cope with huge queues on routes to FranceTravellers heading to France from England were urged Saturday to pack food and water after huge queues developed on routes to the ferry port of Dover.
A “perfect storm” of factors have coalesced as many people hit the roads at the start of Easter holidays, said Toby Howe of the local authority’s “Kent Resilience Forum” in southeast England.
Foremost was the suspension of sailings by P&O Ferries on the popular Dover-Calais route, after it fired nearly 800 seafarers without notice.
Another factor was problems with customs processes for freight lorries heading to Dover, Howe said, after Britain’s Brexit divorce from the European Union.
And this Easter is the first holiday period since the government lifted all Covid restrictions in England, including on outbound passengers.
“Make sure you have got some food and drink because there will be delays,” Howe urged travellers, in an interview with BBC television.
“A lot of the minor roads therefore are chock-a-block,” he said, advising people to seek alternative routes.
The Easter revival of travel has also caused havoc at several UK airports, notably Manchester in northwest England, after airports and airlines laid off thousands of staff during the pandemic.
