Train strikes spark ‘don’t travel’ warning; plus Dover & flight chaos updates

More queues at Dover as fears of ‘vulnerable summer’ grow

Queues are building at the Port of Dover amid fears that the severe disruption seen in recent days could return to Kent throughout the summer.

Ferry operator DFDS told passengers that there were “queues of around an hour” for French border checks on Monday morning, and to “allow a minimum of 120 minutes before your departure to complete all controls”.

P&O Ferries wrote on Twitter: “The queues have picked up and it is taking approximately one hour to clear passport control.”

Passengers were forced to wait for several hours on Friday as bumper-to-bumper traffic stretching for miles marred the journeys of tens of thousands of families at the start of the school summer holidays.

This was blamed on a staffing shortage at French border control and a serious crash on the M20 motorway.

New rail map shows only half of services will run this week

RAIL bosses have unveiled a new map of misery showing how only half of Britain’s network will be open this week.

More than 50,000 railway staff will walkout in the biggest dispute on the network in 33 years.

A map shows the lines which will continue operating in and out of London during the affected dates.

Dover MP blames French police chief for travel chaos

A FRENCH police chief who is critical of Brexit was blamed for the Dover traffic chaos which continued to cause misery for thousands of holidaymakers yesterday.

It came as French border staff working inside Dover port carried out full passport checks for the first time since 2019.

Fernand Gontier, 62, director general of France’s PAF Border Police, has been moaning about Britain leaving the EU since the referendum in 2016 ? calling it a “regression”.

He was accused of being responsible for there not being enough French officers in Dover port to process checks on Friday.

Families faced 30-hour queues while as few as four of 12 French border passport booths were opened at one time. And there were still queues of up to six hours yesterday as the Kent cross- Channel ferry port officials struggled to cope with the huge backlog built up from Friday.

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke let rip at Mr Gontier after some of his border staff did not turn up to work on Friday.

She said: “First, the French don’t turn up to work, then they refuse to apologise for ruining Brits’ well-deserved holidays.

“No wonder people are asking whether this is yet more anti-British behaviour from the French to punish us for leaving the EU.

“I’m really disappointed by Mr Gontier. How was this allowed to happen? He’s responsible as the chief. He has questions to answer.”

RMT statement on Wednesday’s crippling rail walk-out

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “Strike action will take place next Wednesday as planned and our members are more determined than ever to secure a decent pay rise, job security and good working conditions.

“Network Rail have not made any improvement on their previous pay offer and the train companies have not offered us anything new.

“In fact Network Rail have upped the ante, threatening to impose compulsory redundancies and unsafe 50% cuts to maintenance work if we did not withdraw our planned strike action.

“The train operating companies have put driver-only operations on the table along with ransacking our members’ terms and conditions.

“RMT will continue to negotiate in good faith but we will not be bullied or cajoled by anyone.

“The Government need to stop their interference in this dispute so the rail employers can come to a negotiated settlement with us.”

AA warns travel chaos to jam Britain’s roads during warm months

Head of roads policy at the AA Jack Cousens shared his worries that delays will last throughout the warm months.

He explained: “We are concerned that we could be in for a repeat of this congestion across the summer.

“Drivers due to use both Dover and Folkestone to head into Europe on Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday mornings between now and the reopening of schools may see a repetition of these delays.”

Transport for London reviewing long-term funding settlement

Transport for London (TfL) says it is reviewing a draft proposal from the Government for a long-term funding settlement.

TfL has been operating on a series of emergency short-term funding deals since falling into financial trouble during the pandemic.

Andy Byford, London’s Transport Commissioner, said the long-term funding – if agreed – would provide much-needed certainty for those in the nation’s capital.

He said: “Since keeping London moving through the darkest periods of the pandemic we have been making the case to Government that there can be no UK recovery without a London recovery and that there can be no London recovery without a properly funded transport network.

“We are grateful for the support we have received so far, and maintain we have met every condition that has been set by Government as we have worked towards agreeing a multi-year funding settlement that would give certainty to London and to the tens of thousands of jobs across the country that are directly linked to TfL.”

Passengers in Folkestone ‘treated worse than cattle’

Passengers at Folkestone said they were “treated worse than cattle” while stuck in their cars for up to 21 hours this weekend.

The gridlock was blamed on the decision to shut a 24-mile stretch of the M20 due to Operation Brock.

Kent Police effectively turned the roads into a car park for thousands of lorries in an attempt to ease congestion – which seems to have backfired.

The AA branded the entrance to the Eurotunnel in Folkestone the “hotspot of holiday hell”, warning drivers to “be prepared”.