WAITS of up to 18 hours for people attempting to travel from Dover to Calais to begin their summer holidays is being blamed on petty French officials – with some frustrated holidaymakers accusing border officials of “Brexit payback”.,
Just a single French border guard has been on duty this weekend, resulting in queues of 250,000 drivers leading towards the British port town – with families including young children and the elderly forced to spend last night sleeping in their cars in punishingly hot and humid conditions.
Police told drivers they face 10 hours of delays on the A20 today with 12 mile tailbaks, and the congestion will continue until last Monday.
Temperatures on the tarmac look set to soar to near 100F – or mid 30s C. While the mercury will hit about 20C, the heat on the tarmac will be much higher.
Tom Crocker, a Met Office meteorologist, said: “It depends on sunshine amounts. A lot of direct sunshine will allow temperatures to come up a reasonable amount.
“It looks like in Kent there is going to be a reasonably long period of sunshine. In terms of temperatures on the road, we are looking at the mid 30s.”
Kent County Council were forced to hand out 12,000 bottles of waters yesterday in an emergency measure as drivers reported fainting and collapsing in the heat – with many people left hungry, thirsty and exhausted due to the bungled Channel crossing processing.
Those drivers lucky enough to still have phone battery took to social media overnight to vent their fury – and point the finger of blame squarely at churlish French border officials.
