Passengers were told to allow “at least 120 minutes before your flight departure to complete all checks”.
People traveling to the Port of Dover still face long queues on Monday (July 25) amid fears the severe disruption of recent days could return to Kent throughout the summer.
Ferry operator DFDS told passengers there were “queues of around an hour” at French border controls.
They added that people should “allow at least 120 minutes before your flight departure time to complete all checks.”
P&O Ferries wrote on Twitter: “Queues have increased and it takes approximately an hour to clear passport control.”
Passengers had to wait for several hours on Friday as miles of bumper-to-bumper traffic jams at the start of the school summer holidays impacted the journeys of tens of thousands of families.
This was attributed to a staff shortage at French border control and a serious accident on the M20 motorway.
Last updated: Friday, July 22, 2022 at 7:13 p.m
Liz Truss calls Dover queues ‘unacceptable’ and ‘totally avoidable’
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss today criticized the delays and queues at Dover and urged France to take action to avoid such situations in the future.
She said in a statement: “This appalling situation should have been totally avoidable and is unacceptable.
“We need action from France to build capacity at the border to limit further disruption to British tourists and ensure this appalling situation is avoided in the future. We will work with the French authorities to find a solution.”
Grant Shapps “is working closely” with France’s transport minister over delays at Dover
Grant Shapps said he was working closely with France’s transport minister after the Port of Dover reported a “critical incident” due to six-hour queues.
The Transport Secretary tweeted: “Today there have been serious delays in Dover and I am therefore working closely with my colleague Clement Beaune to tackle the issues that have been causing congestion.
“I welcome his commitment that both Britain and France will work closely together to minimize further disruption so people can escape quickly.”
While Secretary of State Liz Truss called the delays and queues at Dover “unacceptable”, she described it as a “completely avoidable” situation.
The Port of Dover chief cannot promise the chaos will be gone by Saturday
The Port of Dover chief executive said staff were focused on tackling the “critical bottleneck” but could not promise the chaos would be gone by Saturday.
Doug Bannister told BBC News: “For now, our intention is to get traffic moving. It will take a while before we clear the backlog.
“We have a busy weekend ahead of us, tomorrow will be a busy day as well. This is just the start of a very busy summer for us so we really need to focus on that for the rest of the summer.”
Asked if he could reassure travelers planning a trip in the coming days that the backlog would ease, he said:
“I really wish I could – we are giving all our attention to making sure there are enough resources to handle this very busy first weekend of summer.
“It’s that critical bottleneck … we need to make sure resources are adequate.”
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Port of Dover chief: ‘hugely frustrating’ to be ‘abandoned’ over poor resources at French border
The chief executive of the Port of Dover said it was “immensely frustrating” to be “abandoned” by poor resources at the French border.
Doug Bannister told BBC News the port was sharing “granular details” on expected traffic levels “on an hourly basis”.
He said it became clear around 4am that there would be a “challenge”.
“I am so sorry that the travelers we have to port today are affected.
“To be abandoned like we have through the border with insufficient resources and slow processes is just immensely frustrating.
Advertisement“We communicated in detail the expected traffic volume on an hourly basis, so we knew exactly what to plan for at the French border.”
Travelers at the Port of Dover have been waiting in the terminal since 5am
Travelers leaving Dover have been waiting in the terminal as early as 5am for a bus to take them to a ferry as buses get stuck in traffic outside the port.
Port staff have offered vouchers for free refreshments to stranded passengers.
Detlef Henke, 50, was on holiday in the UK with his wife and had walked to the ferry terminal at 5am hoping to catch a bus to take them to a boat leaving at 9.50am.
The couple missed their boat and were still waiting for the 10.45am bus to arrive.
“The guys told us we had to wait. You don’t know where the bus is.
“We also have refreshment vouchers.”
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P&O Ferries is telling Dover passengers to “allow six hours to complete all security checks”.
“Please note that there is heavy traffic at Dover Port Border Control.
Advertisement“If you are traveling for today, please allow at least six hours to clear all security checks.”
Ferry operator P&O Ferries
Traffic builds up on the M5 as protesters demonstrate over fuel prices
Traffic has started on the M5 near Bridgwater – one of the areas where fuel price protesters planned to implement “slow roadblocks”.
Huge queues at Dover Harbour
Cars are queuing at the Port of Dover in Kent as families go on holiday for many schools in England and Wales at the start of the summer holidays.
The Port of Kent said staff at French border control at the Port of Dover were “lamentably inadequate”, resulting in holidaymakers being stuck in long queues.
Five-hour queues at Dover port due to “lamentably under-staffed” border control staffing
France has been accused by the Port of Dover of having “woefully inadequate” border control staff ruining summer holidays for thousands of families.
Holidaymakers booked for crossings from the Port of Kent reported being stuck in five-hour queues to complete border checks before they could check in for their ferry.
The port said in a statement it had made “significant investments” to increase its capacity and “shared detailed traffic forecasts with the French authorities”.
“Unfortunately, the PAF (Police aux Frontieres) resource was inadequate and fell far short of what is needed to ensure a smooth first weekend of the main summer holiday season.”