Port of Dover delays: Passengers stranded for hours as ‘critical incident’ declared

Passengers have told of their ordeal after being stranded for hours at the Port of Dover as delays triggered a “critical incident”.

One woman told Sky News she had been waiting on a bus for “12 hours already”, while concerned parents reported on Twitter that their children had been stranded for longer than that, delaying the start of their school trips.

The port said coach processing times inside the terminal are “improving” and are now between one to hours, with one hour waits for cars.

In a statement, it blamed “lengthy French border processes” and the “sheer volume” of traffic on the first day of the school Easter holidays.

Port chief executive Doug Bannister told Sky News that although plans for the holiday period were in place months ago it had 15% more coaches than anticipated and bad weather on Friday caused further delays.

He said that with only half the number of coaches booked in for Sunday, he hopes the backlog will clear “overnight or into tomorrow morning”.

Rosie, a woman travelling on a coach with her family, said they were “left overnight” with “no idea how long we’ll be here”.

“We’ve been waiting for 12 hours already and it’ll be at least another two or three before we get on the ferry,” she told Sky News on Saturday morning.

“It’s very frustrating. I’m an environmental campaigner, I forced my family to get on this bus instead of flying.

“It’s supposed to be an easy overnight trip, but it’s absolute carnage and there’s no excuse for it at all.”

Up to 40 coaches stranded in parks overnight

Mr Bannister said between 20 and 40 coaches were rediverted to local coach parks overnight.

“We started calling them through in the early hours of the morning as soon as there was space,” he said.

Simon Lyons, who is taking his son’s football team to Amsterdam, has been stuck in the coach queue at Dover for “a couple of hours”.

He told Sky News the group of teenagers are 48th in the queue to be checked, but there are currently no ferries departing due to the build up of traffic.

“There’s a real lack of French border staff,” he said.

“We thought coach and ferry was the way to go, but the situation on the ground is not good.

“Speaking to the staff here and they say it’s entirely down to what happened with Brexit. Each individual passport needs to be individually stamped and that’s why it’s taking so long.”

One person posted on Twitter: “My children have been sat on their school coach overnight and are still awaiting news from P&O on when they can move from the buffer zone!”

While another wrote: “My daughter has been in a queue since midnight. Still no idea when the coach will be allowed to board.”

Asked whether the delays were the result of Brexit, Mr Bannister added: “It does make processing more challenging.”

Port staff ‘deeply frustrated’

The port – which declared the critical incident – said in a statement: “The Port of Dover is deeply frustrated by last night’s and this morning’s situation and particularly so on behalf of all the ferry operators’ coach passengers who have had to endure such a long wait at the port.

“Whilst freight and car traffic was processed steadily regardless of the additional challenging weather conditions and high seasonal volumes, coach traffic suffered significant delays due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume.”

The port added that “additional coach bookings taken by ferry operators for Easter has impacted operations for the port”.

P&O Ferries said that after a two or three-hour wait, coach passengers will be “on the next crossing to Calais… as soon as you are through passport control”.

It added that it is providing refreshments to coach passengers who have been stuck at the cruise terminal for hours and also trying to get food and drink to people in the buffer zone.

The company blamed “the time it is taking to process each vehicle at French border controls” for the delays.

DFDS Seaways apologised for waits of “up to 120 minutes” for coaches and cars.

It said it is “operating a cross channel shuttle service” so “all passengers can be shipped on the first available departure upon arrival at check in”.

The company added in a tweet that traffic is “flowing freely” at Dover but “car traffic is very busy”.