Dover delays as ferry passengers wait for hours

People arriving at Dover for the Easter getaway have expressed shock and frustration at long delays - with some coach passengers having had to wait for more than 14 hours.

Some coaches, including many carrying schoolchildren, had to wait overnight at the port.

By Saturday evening, queues began to clear and traffic flowed more easily.

The management for the port apologised for the "prolonged delays" and said services would soon be back to normal.

The port also said long border processing times were to blame for delays, while some ferry companies said bad weather had disrupted travel.

Cars can be boarded much quicker than a coachload of separate passengers and the port said that ferry companies had received 15% more coach bookings for the Easter period than the port had initially anticipated when it began planning four months ago.

Dafydd Francis, a PE teacher from Neath in South Wales, was part of a group of 33 children and adults who arrived at the port at 23:00 BST Friday - and were still waiting to board 14 hours later.

He said he was "shell-shocked" by the delay. "We will arrive at the resort 14 hours late if we are lucky," he said.

"I have organised various trips since 1998 for school and family and friends, approximately 50 trips. We will fly next time."

P&O Ferries and DFDS Seaways initially reported disruption to their ferry services on Friday night - with DFDS saying strong winds were adding to the problem.

On Saturday afternoon, P&O said delays for cars trying to reach the port were now estimated at between one and two hours.

Sara Miles from Tonbridge, who was travelling by car with her family to Normandy, said she was stuck for two hours in traffic outside the port, and that she was not sure when she would catch a ferry.

Ms Miles, who is going with her husband and two young daughters to visit her parents, told the BBC: "It's all a bit chaotic. People are turning off their cars and getting out, police are directing traffic.

"The girls are very excited about the holiday and it'd be too difficult to turn back now."

Another car passenger told the BBC that "the whole of Dover is practically gridlocked".

They said passengers were calm but that frustrations were building. "More and more people are getting out of their cars to try and find toilets - there are five portaloos from what I can see near the border control facilities."

Responding to the claims of lengthy delays in checks at the border control point, the regional prefecture in northern France said that there were "no difficulties that we know of", but that lots of coaches had arrived to travel at around the same time.

All border checkpoints were operational and border police had changed some car checkpoints into slots for coaches, it added.

A UK government spokesperson said it remained in close contact with ferry operators and authorities. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the government needed to "get a grip" of the situation at Dover.

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 having an EU border at Dover meant things were "gumming up", and that each individual passport must now be inspected and stamped.

This means that coach loads of passengers must disembark to have their passports checked, adding to delays.

Last year a critical incident in Dover was blamed on bad weather and a shortage of ferries at Easter.

The port said it was working to get "all passengers on their way as quickly as possible" and food and drink had been provided to coach passengers caught up in the queues.

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

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".

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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