I like France and the French. Not as good as Italy and the Italians though My dog is probably in the top half of Brits who have travelled abroad. 8% have never been abroad in their lives. Travel broadens the mind they say and I think this is true. If you visit the country, you undertsand the country.
BTW, Italians do drive like lunatics. That stereotype is very true.
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Is this Brexit thing you talk of the same as the whole of the UK leaving the whole of the EU as voted for? If it is, it hasn’t happened.
I quite agree. "Brexit" hasnt happened. All we've done is leave the EU as an institution. Boris once again lied in Parliament last week (this time unwittingly) by saying he got Brexit done. Just ask NI what they think Brexit means.
Brexit cant happen. The GFA has seen to that.
The GFA was in place before the vote to leave. Maybe it is more accurate to say that ‘Brexit’ could never happen unless the internationally signed Good Friday Agreement is either reneged upon or unilaterally torn up first.
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Is this Brexit thing you talk of the same as the whole of the UK leaving the whole of the EU as voted for? If it is, it hasn’t happened.
I quite agree. "Brexit" hasnt happened. All we've done is leave the EU as an institution. Boris once again lied in Parliament last week (this time unwittingly) by saying he got Brexit done. Just ask NI what they think Brexit means.
Brexit cant happen. The GFA has seen to that.
The GFA was in place before the vote to leave. Maybe it is more accurate to say that ‘Brexit’ could never happen unless the internationally signed Good Friday Agreement is either reneged upon or unilaterally torn up first.
Again, totally agree.
But then surely David Cameron & civil servants knew this. You may call me nieve or stupid but as I recall there was nothing about the GFA in all the tv debates at the time. Even the Governments pro EU leaflet didnt mention it. That leaflet should have had plastered all over in large red letters " The GFA trumps any deal we can agree with the EU".
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Exactly this. Both remainers and brexiteer have been let down by the politicians.
Once we got into France we crossed borders within Shengen 7 times. We only had to show our passports on our return to UK. We thought we might have to show our passport in the alps but no, they just wanted our money for the Mont Blanc Tunnel toll!
In the past, they often just waved us through. They have to scan and stamp every UK passport now. Not a problen when not busy, but of course it is a problem when it is busy and the port/tunnel is basically as it was before Brexit. I think a bit of planning could solve things for cars although lorries is clearly more complex.
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Exactly this. Both remainers and brexiteer have been let down by the politicians.
Both of whom have been mugged into fighting each other, rather than focusing on the true issue
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Is this Brexit thing you talk of the same as the whole of the UK leaving the whole of the EU as voted for? If it is, it hasn’t happened.
I quite agree. "Brexit" hasnt happened. All we've done is leave the EU as an institution. Boris once again lied in Parliament last week (this time unwittingly) by saying he got Brexit done. Just ask NI what they think Brexit means.
Brexit cant happen. The GFA has seen to that.
The GFA was in place before the vote to leave. Maybe it is more accurate to say that ‘Brexit’ could never happen unless the internationally signed Good Friday Agreement is either reneged upon or unilaterally torn up first.
Again, totally agree.
But then surely David Cameron & civil servants knew this. You may call me nieve or stupid but as I recall there was nothing about the GFA in all the tv debates at the time. Even the Governments pro EU leaflet didnt mention it. That leaflet should have had plastered all over in large red letters " The GFA trumps any deal we can agree with the EU".
The voting slip said the UK to leave the EU. If people didn’t realise the UK had a land border with the EU more fool them.
Anybody who knows what the UK actually is, knows about the land border.
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Is this Brexit thing you talk of the same as the whole of the UK leaving the whole of the EU as voted for? If it is, it hasn’t happened.
I quite agree. "Brexit" hasnt happened. All we've done is leave the EU as an institution. Boris once again lied in Parliament last week (this time unwittingly) by saying he got Brexit done. Just ask NI what they think Brexit means.
Brexit cant happen. The GFA has seen to that.
The GFA was in place before the vote to leave. Maybe it is more accurate to say that ‘Brexit’ could never happen unless the internationally signed Good Friday Agreement is either reneged upon or unilaterally torn up first.
Again, totally agree.
But then surely David Cameron & civil servants knew this. You may call me nieve or stupid but as I recall there was nothing about the GFA in all the tv debates at the time. Even the Governments pro EU leaflet didnt mention it. That leaflet should have had plastered all over in large red letters " The GFA trumps any deal we can agree with the EU".
The voting slip said the UK to leave the EU. If people didn’t realise the UK had a land border with the EU more fool them.
Anybody who knows what the UK actually is, knows about the land border.
But we dont have a land border with the EU. NI is part of the UK and there is no border between them and ROI (Europe).
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Is this Brexit thing you talk of the same as the whole of the UK leaving the whole of the EU as voted for? If it is, it hasn’t happened.
I quite agree. "Brexit" hasnt happened. All we've done is leave the EU as an institution. Boris once again lied in Parliament last week (this time unwittingly) by saying he got Brexit done. Just ask NI what they think Brexit means.
Brexit cant happen. The GFA has seen to that.
The GFA was in place before the vote to leave. Maybe it is more accurate to say that ‘Brexit’ could never happen unless the internationally signed Good Friday Agreement is either reneged upon or unilaterally torn up first.
Again, totally agree.
But then surely David Cameron & civil servants knew this. You may call me nieve or stupid but as I recall there was nothing about the GFA in all the tv debates at the time. Even the Governments pro EU leaflet didnt mention it. That leaflet should have had plastered all over in large red letters " The GFA trumps any deal we can agree with the EU".
The voting slip said the UK to leave the EU. If people didn’t realise the UK had a land border with the EU more fool them.
Anybody who knows what the UK actually is, knows about the land border.
But we dont have a land border with the EU. NI is part of the UK and there is no border between them and ROI (Europe).
People voted for a (hard) land border between the UK and the EU in the referendum. That’s what ‘leave’ means.
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
And in 2019, a minority of people voted for a clown that mumbled "Get Brexit Done" - by then "the people" had three and a half years to find out it was all bullshit, the GFA had been a major topic for a few years too (even though, as you say, it wasn't mentioned in the leaflet that most tabloid brainwashed anti-EU twits ignored), but the dimwits voted to plough on regardless. You certainly can blame "the people" for making the same mistake twice with a host of further knowledge to hand that they chose to ignore.
The irony of this sentence is in the 90% bracket "We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019." - A massive part of the Brexit bullshit was based on the UK supposedly not being able to control it's borders when, swipe me, turns out we did all along!
Your last paragraph might make sense in your head.
To all you muppets that voted for Brexit. You knew what you were voting for. The problem is we all have to pay the price for your stupidity.
So nothing yesterday was to do with the fact that this weekend every year is chaos at Dover and the French border control not turning up for work on time? And then blaming the channel tunnel for delays who then said "Err, no, there were no delays, you lot were just late for work"? But hey. I appreciate you remainers don't like to let facts and reality get in the way of an anti Brexit arguement. I'm also aware that you personally will now play the "I'm being bullied" card.
It was to do with passports needing to br stamped. Get real. This is a Brexit mess. What has it to do with bullying which is entirely another matter. If you think otherwise read all the news.
Everything i said was in the news. You must have missed it...or ignored it because it didn't fit in with your narrative.
DR, that may be your problem, the press in this country and sadly the opposition parties refuse to mention Brexit. Also this government was advised by the French to increase capacity at the border to make sure that delays would not occur, we refused. Check the papers this morning and you will find out I'm right, next one up is biometric testing being brought in later this year, more delays because of that.
So why not the day before, rather than acknowledge their own incompetence, they did their usual blamed it on something else, where then the usual have then added their tall tales to it.
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Is this Brexit thing you talk of the same as the whole of the UK leaving the whole of the EU as voted for? If it is, it hasn’t happened.
I quite agree. "Brexit" hasnt happened. All we've done is leave the EU as an institution. Boris once again lied in Parliament last week (this time unwittingly) by saying he got Brexit done. Just ask NI what they think Brexit means.
Brexit cant happen. The GFA has seen to that.
The GFA was in place before the vote to leave. Maybe it is more accurate to say that ‘Brexit’ could never happen unless the internationally signed Good Friday Agreement is either reneged upon or unilaterally torn up first.
Again, totally agree.
But then surely David Cameron & civil servants knew this. You may call me nieve or stupid but as I recall there was nothing about the GFA in all the tv debates at the time. Even the Governments pro EU leaflet didnt mention it. That leaflet should have had plastered all over in large red letters " The GFA trumps any deal we can agree with the EU".
The voting slip said the UK to leave the EU. If people didn’t realise the UK had a land border with the EU more fool them.
Anybody who knows what the UK actually is, knows about the land border.
But we dont have a land border with the EU. NI is part of the UK and there is no border between them and ROI (Europe).
People voted for a (hard) land border between the UK and the EU in the referendum. That’s what ‘leave’ means.
I know that. So why isnt there a hard border in Ireland ? Because of the GFA thats why. So we either scrap the GFA & put up a border or we dont leave the EU. THERE IS NO 3RD OPTION NO MATTER WHAT BORIS, TRUSS OR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SAY.
But that's getting off the point re the trouble at Dover. As someone said better than me - the ports have had plenty of time to bring in new infrastructure to cope with checking passports. We've just gone from delays at airports to delays at seaports. Perhaps the ferry companies need to do what the airlines did & just cancel a load of crossings. Tell people to go home because there are only 6 crossings a day. Or we declare a pandemic & no-one leave their homes for 2 years.
To all you muppets that voted for Brexit. You knew what you were voting for. The problem is we all have to pay the price for your stupidity.
So nothing yesterday was to do with the fact that this weekend every year is chaos at Dover and the French border control not turning up for work on time? And then blaming the channel tunnel for delays who then said "Err, no, there were no delays, you lot were just late for work"? But hey. I appreciate you remainers don't like to let facts and reality get in the way of an anti Brexit arguement. I'm also aware that you personally will now play the "I'm being bullied" card.
It was to do with passports needing to br stamped. Get real. This is a Brexit mess. What has it to do with bullying which is entirely another matter. If you think otherwise read all the news.
Everything i said was in the news. You must have missed it...or ignored it because it didn't fit in with your narrative.
DR, that may be your problem, the press in this country and sadly the opposition parties refuse to mention Brexit. Also this government was advised by the French to increase capacity at the border to make sure that delays would not occur, we refused. Check the papers this morning and you will find out I'm right, next one up is biometric testing being brought in later this year, more delays because of that.
Before brexit the number of booths were adequate. Now there probably needs to be the capacity for triple if not quadruple the number. A few more salaries at the end of the day. But these booths are the same booths that were there before increased checks and the new proposed biometric checks are scary in terms of what impact there will be.
This is something that could have been addressed with proper planning though as Golfie says. But getting Brexit done clearly doesn't mean this sort of planning. It begs the question what it does mean of course.
I dont blame Brexit. I blame the Government AFTER Brexit. Brexit happened 6 years ago. SIX. The Government / ports / anyone else that matters have had all this time to sort out proper border controls. You cant blame the people that voted for something they wanted then not doing anything about the consequences. We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019.
Perhaps we should go to war with France. Bomb them for 20 years & then seek a peace agreement. Perhaps sign it on 25th December and call it the Xmas day Agreement. Agree that we all one country so there doesn't need to be a border. Worked for ireland.
Is this Brexit thing you talk of the same as the whole of the UK leaving the whole of the EU as voted for? If it is, it hasn’t happened.
I quite agree. "Brexit" hasnt happened. All we've done is leave the EU as an institution. Boris once again lied in Parliament last week (this time unwittingly) by saying he got Brexit done. Just ask NI what they think Brexit means.
Brexit cant happen. The GFA has seen to that.
The GFA was in place before the vote to leave. Maybe it is more accurate to say that ‘Brexit’ could never happen unless the internationally signed Good Friday Agreement is either reneged upon or unilaterally torn up first.
Again, totally agree.
But then surely David Cameron & civil servants knew this. You may call me nieve or stupid but as I recall there was nothing about the GFA in all the tv debates at the time. Even the Governments pro EU leaflet didnt mention it. That leaflet should have had plastered all over in large red letters " The GFA trumps any deal we can agree with the EU".
The voting slip said the UK to leave the EU. If people didn’t realise the UK had a land border with the EU more fool them.
Anybody who knows what the UK actually is, knows about the land border.
But we dont have a land border with the EU. NI is part of the UK and there is no border between them and ROI (Europe).
People voted for a (hard) land border between the UK and the EU in the referendum. That’s what ‘leave’ means.
I know that. So why isnt there a hard border in Ireland ? Because of the GFA thats why. So we either scrap the GFA & put up a border or we dont leave the EU. THERE IS NO 3RD OPTION NO MATTER WHAT BORIS, TRUSS OR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL SAY.
But that's getting off the point re the trouble at Dover. As someone said better than me - the ports have had plenty of time to bring in new infrastructure to cope with checking passports. We've just gone from delays at airports to delays at seaports. Perhaps the ferry companies need to do what the airlines did & just cancel a load of crossings. Tell people to go home because there are only 6 crossings a day. Or we declare a pandemic & no-one leave their homes for 2 years.
You are right. Either renege on the Good Friday Agreement and put up a hard controlled border (not my personal preference because of the terrorism that would follow). Or not leave the EU. There could be an agreement for free movement of goods and people between the EU and the UK, but apparently some folk the media call ‘Spartans’ won’t allow that.
Bottom line is this is the French border and ultimately, although we created this situation, they control it. Should they so choose they could staff it with one bored geezer who clocks on at 10, takes 2 hours for lunch and regularly pulls the shutters down for a Gauloise. And there's nothing we could do except respond in kind. It was recognised by the French, and the port, more needed to be done and more funding required. Our government refused.
Leavers were warned making ourselves a third country would lead to more border checks being required and this would impact on the infrastructure around ports, particularly in Kent, particularly at peak times. Repeatedly. But they ignored them, laughed at those warnings or downplayed them.
We're seeing those checks being played out now, just as predicted, with worse coming down the line. This is it, this is what being outside the EU looks like, so we all need to start sucking it up and at least being honest about why parts of Kent are gridlocked.
Back to the main topic of this thread, there are still long queues to get to the Eurotunnel check-in booths today, which again impacts local people. Dover is faring better, but there is a lot less freight traffic using the sea crossing on a Suday.
Operation Brock has been a disaster for Kent right from the start. We had months of overnight closures starting in 2017, in order to prepare the M20 for Brock and every time the M20 is closed, all traffic is diverted onto the A20 or M2/A2.
At the start of this year, the Highways Agency in their wisdom, decided that storing the concrete barrier on the hard shoulder was no longer acceptable and advised that there would be a whole YEAR of roadworks and overnight closures on the M20 between junctions 8 & 9, whilst they prepared the central reservation for storing the concrete barrier. Those works are still in progress, so the concrete barrier is still being used to reduce the London bound carriageway to 2 lanes, even if Brock is not in operation.
Even when Brock is not in operation, there is a 50mph speed limit and both carriageways are restricted to 2 lanes, which is wholly inadequate to take the volume of traffic. As soon as there is an accident or breakdown in the Brock section, traffic chaos ensues.
When Brock is operating, all EU freight traffic has to use the coastbound carriageway and non EU freight should use the contraflow on the London bound carriageway. This weekend, that is not happening because they have closed the coastbound contraflow and pushed all non EU freight onto the A20, which cannot cope with the extra traffic. Villages like Harrietsham & Lenham become clogged and local people cannot freely move around.
Something needs to be put in place very soon, as when biometric checks come into force, there will be even greater problems. I did vote Brexit to my shame, but I'm not afraid to admit that it has been a disaster for Kent and the whole of Great Britain. The best thing for the UK & the EU would be a customs union, however the 'great oven-ready deal' has brought the hardest possible Brexit, with all the problems that entails.
Blaming the French for everything is so counter-productive. We need to work with the French to stop the people smugglers at source, instead we have a Govt. leadership battle stirring up more trouble. The best way to sort out all the problems is to have amiable talks, not a blame game.
Or use this fantastic technological solution that we were told would be ready by now.
BTW, are the MPs who lied about this solution allowed not to be challenged on it now with recordings of their words? The press should be exposing them.
Don't mention Brexit seems to be the new 'don't mention the war' to its supporters. By all means share the positives of it (sovereignty, decision making etc) but understand that there are obvious and predictable logistical problems to it. Not seeing this as a factor in a border delay is a feat of selective blindness worthy of Arsene Wenger.
Just wait until photos and finger prints are needed to enter the EU. That will make today’s disruption look like a queue for a beer.
Sadly, this requires planning now but don't hold your breath. Operation Brock is not a long lasting solution and six years after the vote, is this how far we have got in terms of preperation? It is an absolute scandal as improved infrastucture could have mitigated this issue. When not busy a couple of extra minutes is not an issue. When busy it is a disaster.
Right, but not on the day that started all this off. We all know that brexit has caused delays at the ports. But we have been severely let down by the MP’s who spent years squabbling in the house and being totally unprepared for shit like this when we finally left. The issues on Friday tho were exasperated by the French border staff not turning up for work on the busiest port day of the year. Would be nice if the EU started to act a bit more collegiately with us, if they want us to keep supplying gas to them 😛
Comments
BTW, Italians do drive like lunatics. That stereotype is very true.
Maybe it is more accurate to say that ‘Brexit’ could never happen unless the internationally signed Good Friday Agreement is either reneged upon or unilaterally torn up first.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1644402/Port-of-Dover-latest-news-updates-queues-France-Channel-border-holidays-vn
But then surely David Cameron & civil servants knew this. You may call me nieve or stupid but as I recall there was nothing about the GFA in all the tv debates at the time. Even the Governments pro EU leaflet didnt mention it. That leaflet should have had plastered all over in large red letters " The GFA trumps any deal we can agree with the EU".
In the past, they often just waved us through. They have to scan and stamp every UK passport now. Not a problen when not busy, but of course it is a problem when it is busy and the port/tunnel is basically as it was before Brexit. I think a bit of planning could solve things for cars although lorries is clearly more complex.
Divide and Conquer.
As appears the way with most issues.
If people didn’t realise the UK had a land border with the EU more fool them.
That’s what ‘leave’ means.
The irony of this sentence is in the 90% bracket "We had border controls 40 years ago or did passports checks just start in 2019." - A massive part of the Brexit bullshit was based on the UK supposedly not being able to control it's borders when, swipe me, turns out we did all along!
Your last paragraph might make sense in your head.
But that's getting off the point re the trouble at Dover. As someone said better than me - the ports have had plenty of time to bring in new infrastructure to cope with checking passports. We've just gone from delays at airports to delays at seaports. Perhaps the ferry companies need to do what the airlines did & just cancel a load of crossings. Tell people to go home because there are only 6 crossings a day. Or we declare a pandemic & no-one leave their homes for 2 years.
https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/the-british-government-rejected-a-33m-proposal-to-double-passport-booths-at-dover-in-2020-330342/
This is something that could have been addressed with proper planning though as Golfie says. But getting Brexit done clearly doesn't mean this sort of planning. It begs the question what it does mean of course.
Either renege on the Good Friday Agreement and put up a hard controlled border (not my personal preference because of the terrorism that would follow).
Or not leave the EU.
There could be an agreement for free movement of goods and people between the EU and the UK, but apparently some folk the media call ‘Spartans’ won’t allow that.
Leavers were warned making ourselves a third country would lead to more border checks being required and this would impact on the infrastructure around ports, particularly in Kent, particularly at peak times. Repeatedly. But they ignored them, laughed at those warnings or downplayed them.
We're seeing those checks being played out now, just as predicted, with worse coming down the line. This is it, this is what being outside the EU looks like, so we all need to start sucking it up and at least being honest about why parts of Kent are gridlocked.
Operation Brock has been a disaster for Kent right from the start. We had months of overnight closures starting in 2017, in order to prepare the M20 for Brock and every time the M20 is closed, all traffic is diverted onto the A20 or M2/A2.
At the start of this year, the Highways Agency in their wisdom, decided that storing the concrete barrier on the hard shoulder was no longer acceptable and advised that there would be a whole YEAR of roadworks and overnight closures on the M20 between junctions 8 & 9, whilst they prepared the central reservation for storing the concrete barrier. Those works are still in progress, so the concrete barrier is still being used to reduce the London bound carriageway to 2 lanes, even if Brock is not in operation.
Even when Brock is not in operation, there is a 50mph speed limit and both carriageways are restricted to 2 lanes, which is wholly inadequate to take the volume of traffic. As soon as there is an accident or breakdown in the Brock section, traffic chaos ensues.
When Brock is operating, all EU freight traffic has to use the coastbound carriageway and non EU freight should use the contraflow on the London bound carriageway. This weekend, that is not happening because they have closed the coastbound contraflow and pushed all non EU freight onto the A20, which cannot cope with the extra traffic. Villages like Harrietsham & Lenham become clogged and local people cannot freely move around.
Something needs to be put in place very soon, as when biometric checks come into force, there will be even greater problems. I did vote Brexit to my shame, but I'm not afraid to admit that it has been a disaster for Kent and the whole of Great Britain. The best thing for the UK & the EU would be a customs union, however the 'great oven-ready deal' has brought the hardest possible Brexit, with all the problems that entails.
Blaming the French for everything is so counter-productive. We need to work with the French to stop the people smugglers at source, instead we have a Govt. leadership battle stirring up more trouble. The best way to sort out all the problems is to have amiable talks, not a blame game.