Ferry ports delay warning ahead of new passport checks

PEOPLE travelling to France by sea and train should set off earlier than normal when new exit checks at ports and Eurotunnel come into force next month. 

It was “advisable” for travellers to build in extra time on days when ports are particularly busy, according to Britain’s immigration and security minister, James Brokenshire.

The concerns relate to exit border checks that come into effect on April 8, and could impact people heading abroad for spring holidays.

Every tourist leaving the UK will have their passports checked at ferry ports for the first time in 20 years.

The checks will double the amount of time for a car with a family of four, prompting concerns that queues will build up, blocking major roads to the ports. 

The problems are likely to be particularly acute at Dover, which handles 60% of UK ferry traffic to Europe with 50 sailings a day.

Ferry companies have told the Home Office that family vehicles will have to join queues of lorries on the A20 and M20. Trials found “significant queues (of 650+ cars) will form on days when overall car numbers exceed 7, 500,” according to a letter from the UK Chamber of Shipping to MPs on the Home Affairs Committee. 

Mr Brokenshire played down concerns, saying he did not recognize the “extreme” stories about how the changes could impact travellers and insisted there were contingency plans ready. He said the government had been working with ferry companies and Eurotunnel for the last 18 months, and stressed that the checks were little different to those already carried out by airlines.

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Picture Credit: "Vehcles queueing for the ferry" by RichTea via Wikimedia Commons.