30 mile lorry queues at Dover in 2015 could become a permanent fixture post-Brexit
Tighter border controls caused by Brexit will create traffic misery for the South of England.
Chancellor Phillip Hammond has admitted that Dover will almost immediately grind to a halt as the result of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit. If cargo and lorries are held at Dover, the ripple effect of gridlock at the port will spread to Britain’s major transport arteries.
Hammond told The Times that Dover is “clearly not” equipped to deal with more stringent border controls. “Roll-on, roll-off traffic at Dover is predicated on trucks rolling off a ferry immediately, out of the port and the ferry reloading and departing pretty rapidly . . . anything that caused delay in vehicles exiting the port would cause significant disruption to patterns of movement.”
If the predictions seem cynical and baseless, precedent does suggest that chaos will ensue. Disruption in 2015 caused by industrial action led to lorries queuing for 30 miles. However, the difference with tighter border controls will be that the disruption will become permanent, meaning the queues will never abate. If this happens, the knock on effect for other major roads will be far more serious as there will never be a situation when the roads fully clear.
The next round of Brexit talks will take place on 25th September.