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The boss of Dover Port has warned of tailbacks throughout Kent when stronger EU border checks are brought in next year.
This year saw massive queues that spelled misery for holidaymakers going to France via Dover but 2023 could be far worse, Dover Port boss Doug Bannister warned.
At the moment it takes about a minute and a half for a car to go through checks at Dover. Under a harsher system that will likely come into force in May 2023, it may take up to ten minutes.
The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES) will take note of non-EU citizens every time they go in or out of the Schengen Area.
It will replace manual passport stamping with automatic scans and detail a person’s name, fingerprints and ID photo alongside the date and place of entry or exit.
Mr Bannister warned that rolling out the system in May could be risky as the summer travel season would just be starting.
Responding to a suggestion there could be 19-mile tailbacks through Kent, Mr Bannister told the Transport Select Committee there could be even longer queues next summer than in previous months.
Mr Bannister said he hoped the system would be introduced with a ‘transition period’ but admitted he feared a cold-turkey introduction of the system would take place.
This, he said, would spell ‘significant and continued disruption for a very long time’.
This year saw massive queues that spelled misery for holidaymakers going to France via Dover but 2023 could be far worse, Dover Port boss Doug Bannister warned. Pictured: Six-hour queues at the Port of Dover on July 23
Doug Bannister said next summer could see ‘significant and continued disruption for a very long time’ because of the EU’s new border checks
Dover descended into travel chaos last summer as holidaymakers faced massive traffic jams
The UK-France border sees around 60 million passengers each year, with Dover Port one of three places in Britain that will need the post-Brexit checks.
Dover Port chief Mr Bannister urged the British government to pay attention to the new scheme.
He said: ‘While there is a lot of very good work going on, we do not have a solution that is going to work in a very busy ferry terminal.
‘What that means for next year’s summer getaway is that we are in a whole new ball game.
He said the system has no been tested and as such he and his team just don’t know how long it may take for even a single caer to go through border checks at Dover.
He said: ‘It could be two minutes per person to register, plus two minutes for the car.
‘That is 10 minutes for a car full of four people.
‘We have heard that there could be some technology such as an iPad with handholds to register the fingerprints.
‘We have not trialled it. How do you pass that around a car? What happens if you have a child asleep in the back seat?
‘What if it is a dark, stormy night and the lighting is inappropriate?
‘We have not tested all that, so we do not actually know.’
The EU’s tougher border check system, called the Entry/Exit System (EES), will likely come into force in May 2023.
Anyone without an EU passport will have to register on the scheme at the time of their travel into the Schengen Area.
Registering won’t just be filling out name and date of birth but will also include taking photos of travellers’ faces and taking their fingerprints.
Each time a person crosses the border they will need to be validated.
The only point in the UK this will happen is at the Port of Dover.
After huge queues of cars and lorries at the Port of Dover in July this year, the worst disruption centred on gridlocked roads leading to Channel Tunnel’s terminal near Folkestone.
Tens of thousands of exasperated families were caught up in the chaos that started when French passport staff failed to turn up to work in mid July.
When tougher EU border checks are brought in next year the queues seen this year could be trounced in terms of length and time spent in them
At the moment it takes cars about a minute and a half to go through French border checks at Dover. By next May it could take up to ten minutes
Britain’s road network was under intense pressure with 18.8 million journeys made in the biggest summer getaway in eight years.
Mr Bannister blamed post-Brexit passport rules and French inadequacy on the massive queues.
Last summer he said increased checks at the border that have come with Brexit are the blame for ‘increased transaction times’ that have caused huge tailbacks into the port over the last couple of days.
He also said the port had been ‘let down’ by French border control staff after some passport booths were left empty.
The fallout from Brexit has caused unimagined consequences.
During the Vote Leave campaign, leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said there would not be queues on the UK side of the border after Britain left the EU.
Mr Bannister blamed post-Brexit passport rules and French inadequacy on the massive queues
Although leading Vote Leave politician Jacob Rees-Mogg promised Brexit wouldn’t lead to long queues at Dover he has since admitted he ‘got it wrong’
He said that after Brexit, ‘We will maintain a free-flowing border at Dover.’
Mr Rees-Mogg added: ‘The delays will not be at Dover, they will be at Calais.’
He has since admitted he ‘got it wrong’, although claimed it was ‘for the right reasons’.
Mr Rees-Mogg said: ‘The point I was making was that the only delays would be caused by the French if they decided not to allow British people to pass through freely.’
In July this year the Port of Dover seemed to back up that claim as it slammed France for ‘woefully inadequate staffing’.
Mr Bannister said last month that he was seeking ‘significant infrastructure investment’ from the British Government ‘that is required throughout Kent for the road network’ to deal with queues.