Dover ferry passengers warned of long delays as coaches queue up

A critical incident has been declared at Dover, as coach passengers face hours-long delays caused by long border processing times and bad weather.

On Saturday as the Easter getaway began, the port said around 70 coaches were waiting to be processed and that 400 were expected to arrive today.

Some coaches were stuck overnight and P&O Ferries reported delays of two to three hours for coaches this morning.

The port apologised for the “prolonged delays”.

It was “deeply frustrated”, particularly on behalf of ferry operators’ coach passengers “who have had to endure such a long wait”, a spokesperson said.

Cars were passing through without problem and freight traffic was being processed steadily, the port said.

Coach traffic was slow because of lengthy French border processes at Dover and sheer volume, the port spokesperson said.

P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways have both reported disruption to Channel ferry crossings – with DFDS saying strong winds were adding to the problem.

Simon Calder, travel correspondent at the Independent, said processing times since leaving the EU had increased sharply “and that would seem to explain the delays”.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said that each individual passport must now be inspected and stamped – and that having an EU border at Dover meant things were “gumming up”.

He said delays were likely to reach a peak later in the morning.

Last year a critical incident in Dover was blamed on bad weather and a shortage of ferries at Easter. The port said on Saturday that despite considerable pre-planning for this year, the additional coach bookings taken by ferry operators for Easter has impacted operations.

Food and drink had been provided to coach passengers caught up in the queues, the port said.

It was working to get “all passengers on their way as quickly as possible”.

At 04:00 BST, the port reported delays of five to six hours for coaches – it later said that coach delays were still several hours long.

A coach of school children traveling to France had been given bags of crisps, some chocolate and water to see them through.

And a group of university students on a coach travelling to France arrived last night at 20:00 GMT after huge delays on the roads. They were kept in the cruise terminal at Dover and expected they would be waiting another 10 hours before they caught a ferry.

DFDS that it was expecting a busy weekend and asked customers to allow extra time to complete border and check-in controls on arrival.

Student Oliver Quigley-Brown, who was travelling to France for a university ski trip, told the BBC he had been warned he faced a 14-hour delay.

He said he had seen “a lot of stressed teachers” at the port, estimating there could be “thousands” of people from school and university groups stuck there.

Authorities had provided them with snacks and water, Mr Quigley-Brown said, but he added: “I don’t think they’d anticipated the kind of delays we’re seeing.”

Ferry operators have been sending coach traffic to alternative waiting areas in order to clear the backlog of vehicles within the port.

DFDS UK tweeted early on Saturday that services to France were running with delays of up to 2.5 hours.

A spokesperson for DFDS earlier apologised for the wait times, which were blamed on bad weather delaying sailings as well as “high volumes of traffic… particularly coach groups”.

In its own Twitter update, P&O Ferries stressed that it had “no control” over the border checks, but that coaches would be on “the next crossing to Calais after clearing check-in”.

As well as the situation at Dover, there are fears of disrupted Easter getaways due to strikes affecting London’s Heathrow Airport.

Hundreds of security officers in the Unite union have begun 10 days of industrial action over pay – though the airport said it was operating “as normal” on Friday.

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