According to a report, the European Union will postpone its planned fingerprint checks in Dover over fears it could lead to ‘pandemonium’ as people try to make it to next year’s Paris Olympics.
The EU planned to introduce the checks – which would involve four fingerprint scans and a photo of newcomers to the bloc – as part of the new Entry and Exit System (EES) due to launch in November.
But The protector reports that this has now been pushed back amid fears from transport bosses that the controls could cause more chaos at border checkpoints.
EU officials are now expected to discuss the plans in June, the paper says, with any delays a welcome relief to bus operators whose passengers faced delays of up to 14 hours over Easter to reach Calais.
Fears grew that such checks at Dover, the Eurotunnel in Folkestone and the Eurostar terminal in London would lead to similar delays next year as people travel to and from Paris for the 2024 Olympics.
According to a report, the European Union will postpone its planned fingerprint checks in Dover over fears it could lead to ‘pandemonium’ as people try to make it to next year’s Paris Olympics. Pictured: Cars line up in Dover harbor during the Easter holiday, April 7
Doug Bannister, the CEO of the Port of Dover, told the publication that a repeat of the Easter delays would be “unacceptable.”
And Anthony Marett, president of the UKCOA bus operators’ association, told The Guardian: ‘Easter was a perfect storm. You had a bus trip that returned on a scale not seen since the pandemic. You let all buses descend on one infrastructure at the same time. The net result of it was just pandemonium.”
Passport checks on drivers, passengers and groups of coaches – such as students on school trips – were common practice prior to Brexit.
However, queues have grown in recent years with the return of bus travel after the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with the post-Brexit requirement for Border Police to ‘wet stamp’ passports and check that passengers have not exceeded the 90-day limit imposed on UK travelers entering the EU and the Schengen area.
Some buses took an hour to process during the Easter holidays.
On top of existing checks, the EU plans to take fingerprints and facial images when they first arrive on the continent under the new EES, which requires Britons traveling to the bloc to apply for a three-year travel document.
After the initial entry, the data collected through the checks should allow faster processing, John Keefe, Eurotunnel’s head of public affairs, told The Guardian. However, there is no room at the Eurotunnel or Dover to expand to create first registration zones, the publication said.
Every time Brits try to enter the continent, travelers must provide a facial image and four fingerprints. Personal details such as first name, last name, date of birth, nationality, gender, travel documents and the three-letter country code are all required, except for children under the age of 12 only.
The new rules apply to ports, airports and other border checkpoints for travelers entering from outside the EU. Dover, the Eurotunnel and the Eurostar are likely to see the largest queues as a result of the changes.
Dover chiefs have previously said passengers without EU passports can take up to 10 minutes per vehicle to check, compared to the current average of 90 seconds it takes for a car to pass.
Logistics UK warned earlier this year that the new system could lead to 30km tailbacks in Kent and traffic congestion, while Mr Marett warned that if further controls are put in place, ‘we think there will be quite a serious incident’.
The EU planned to introduce the checks – which would involve four fingerprint scans and a photo of newcomers to the bloc – as part of the new Entry and Exit System (EES) due to launch in November. In the photo: last year there were vehicles queuing in front of the Eurotunnel
Fears grew that new controls at Dover, the Eurotunnel in Folkestone and the Eurostar terminal in London (pictured last year) would lead to longer delays next year as people travel to and from Paris for the 2024 Olympics
The EU has proposed the use of facial recognition to carry out checks on people entering for the first time after giving their details.
However, there are concerns that the technology the EU is proposing to use may not work through tinted glass, which would mean passengers in vehicles with blacked-out windows would have to get out of their vehicles.
There are also questions to be answered about mixed car loads – vehicles carrying people with EU passports and non-EU passports.
The Guardian reported that the EU insists it is still on track to implement the new EES checks from November 2023, but quoted sources as saying this is unrealistic.