Britain’s borders are set to reopen with the Port of Dover saying inbound lorries are now coming into the UK and the French government pledging to ‘resume movement’ as soon as possible after a coronavirus travel ban plunged the country into chaos.
Dover closed to all freight vehicles leaving the UK for 48 hours after France imposed an inbound travel ban from 11pm last night amid the spread of the mutant Covid-19 strain which plunged London and the South East into Tier Four.
Some 10,000 lorries a day travel through Dover, which accounts for 20 per cent of all goods brought and sold in UK, and there were fears the French shutdown would lead to shortages of fresh food and the coronavirus vaccine.
Thousands of lorries that were meant to travel across the English Channel on Monday were told to stay away from Kent ports and HGVs turning up at Dover this morning were greeted with glowing signs saying ‘French borders closed’ and were turned away.
However, officials in Dover confirmed inbound freight was still coming in, playing down fears of hauliers staying away to avoid being ‘marooned’.
The French government has also now released a statement saying that movement between the country and the UK would resume ‘within hours’.
In a post shared on Twitter by the French Embassy in the UK, French Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari said: ‘In the next few hours, at European level, we’re going to establish a solid health protocol to ensure that movement from the UK can resume.
‘Our priority: to protect our nationals and our fellow citizens.’
The travel ban led to people and goods from the UK being blocked from entering France via air, sea or the Channel Tunnel with fresh food left to rot on roads and in traffic queues.
It also led to concerns that the chaos could disrupt supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to the UK which is made in Belgium – with military aircraft set to airlift supplies if the ban lasts for longer than 48 hours.
The ban added to several pre-existing issues already gripping the ports, including stockpiling fears over a No-Deal Brexit, increased demand for goods over Christmas and a lack of shipping containers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It also triggered panic-buying, with shoppers queueing at supermarkets from 5.50am this morning to stock up on essentials following the news. Despite the travel ban later being lifted, panic-buying continued up to lunchtime.
Sainsbury’s has warned of several popular items being unavailable over the coming days: ‘If nothing changes, we will start to see gaps over the coming days on lettuce, some salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruit – all of which are imported from the Continent at this time of year. We hope the UK and French governments can come to a mutually agreeable solution that prioritises the immediate passage of produce and any other food at the ports.’
Shellfish producers in Scotland also said they had tonnes of perishable products stranded on roads as the French border was closed.
Despite the chaos, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps insisted people ‘wouldn’t notice’ any supermarket shortages: ‘The absolute key is to get this resolved as soon as possible. I’ll be speaking again to my opposite number Jean-Baptiste (Djebbari) later this morning.
‘There’s a meeting taking place actually right now in Europe about it, in order to co-ordinate approaches. It’s not really in anybody’s particular interest to not have hauliers going across, not least because they are mostly European hauliers and the goods are mostly theirs, so they will not want them perishing any more than we would want the border closed.’
He also attempted to calm fears about the wider impact of the French decision: ‘The supply chain is pretty robust in as much as you get variations in supply all the time. For the most part, people won’t notice it.’
Mr Johnson faced demands to recall Parliament to address the crisis, which follows the introduction of a new Tier 4 level of lockdown on London and large parts of south-east England.
He will hold talks with Ministers today as he chairs the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee amid warnings of ‘significant disruption’ around the Channel ports in Kent.
Kent Police implemented Operation Stack to ease congestion, while the Department for Transport said the disused Manston Airport was also being prepared as another contingency measure against the anticipated level of disruption, with plans to store 4,000 stranded HGVs there.
Countries including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, and Bulgaria announced restrictions on UK travel following the outbreak of the new strain across South East England.
India announced this morning that all flights from Britain would be suspended until December 31 and Hong Kong is also due to ban all flights from midnight. Asian nations including Japan and South Korea said they were closely monitoring the new strain.
Australia said on Monday it had detected cases of the new virulent coronavirus strain. Two travellers from the UK to Australia’s New South Wales state were found carrying the mutated variant of the virus.
French health minister Olivier Veran said on Monday that it was possible the news strain was already circulating in France, although recent tests had not detected it in the country.
‘It is entirely possible that the virus is circulating in France,’ Veran said, after his country introduced the ban on British lorries.
Among those at the Port of Dover are 80 workers who had travelled down from the West Midlands on a coach to go home for Christmas. They are now stuck for at least next two days and have nowhere to stay, with all hotels closed.
It comes as:
- The Food and Drink Federation warned of ‘serious disruption to UK Christmas fresh food supplies and exports’
- Italy said the mutant strain had been detected in a traveller who recently returned to the country from the UK
- The British Retail Consortium warned closure of France to UK traffic would create ‘difficulties’ for UK trade
- Nicola Sturgeon said it was ‘imperative’ the UK Government sought an extension to Brexit transition period
- Ireland has imposed a 48-hour ban on flights from Britain while ferries would be restricted to freight only
- Heathrow Airport descended into chaos as hundreds of passengers scrambled onto the last flight to Dublin
- Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted the new Tier 4 restrictions may have to remain in place for months
- The UK reported a further 35,928 cases yesterday as the mutant strain caused a 94.8% rise in infections.
Transport Secretary Grant Shaps insisted that vaccines not be affected by the travel ban, telling Sky News today: ‘Most vaccine doesn’t come via what is called ‘Ro-Ro’, roll-on, roll-off, which is what we are talking about here.
‘In other words, it’s not usually accompanied by a driver, by a haulier. It comes on those containers. To put this into context, there are about 6,000 vehicles we would expect, just under in Dover today, probably 4,000 would have gone across from Dover, just under about 2,000 on the Eurotunnel.
‘But there is probably something like 32,000 units that would have been the daily total, so the vast majority – including virtually all the vaccine – actually comes via container and there are good supplies in the meantime. So this won’t have an impact on the vaccination programme.’
Mr Shapps admitted that France’s ban on freight hauliers was ‘slightly surprising’, adding: ‘Immediately as soon as the French said, perhaps slightly surprisingly that they would stop hauliers, rather than just passengers, we were in touch with a group known as the Kent Resilience Forum. They are well used to planning for exactly these kind of circumstances.
‘We will be opening up Manston as a lorry park today and providing welfare for some of those drivers as well, while also being in very close contact with the French over what will happen next.
‘The Kent Dover-to-Calais Eurotunnel, what we call the short straits, is probably about 20% of goods going to and from, in and out of the country.
‘But it’s not the mainstay. Most goods actually come in and out by unaccompanied containers and those will continue to flow.’
Asked about what the shortages could be, Mr Shapps said: ‘Obviously we don’t want these links to be closed for too long, but it’s not unusual for them to be closed and disrupted.
‘In the short term it’s not a specific problem. But of course the key is to get it resolved.’
The chief executive of the Road Haulage Association (RHA), Richard Burnett, said the disruption could cause problems with ‘fresh food supply’ in the run-up to Christmas.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘With it being so close to Christmas we’re looking at 48 hours at this point in time in terms of the restrictions, we’re likely to see Operation Stack building in terms of numbers of vehicles on the UK side and that might be a deterrent for EU hauliers to want to come so close to Christmas and end up being stranded here, that’s part of the challenge that we’re facing today.’
Food and Drink Federation chief executive Ian Wright said last night: ‘Tonight’s suspension of accompanied freight traffic from the UK to France has the potential to cause serious disruption to UK Christmas fresh food supplies and exports of UK food and drink.
‘Continental truckers will not want to travel here if they have a real fear of getting marooned. The Government must very urgently persuade the French government to exempt accompanied freight from its ban.’
He told BBC Breakfast this morning: ‘The problem is the return journey of drivers coming to the UK. If they cannot be guaranteed either that they will get out of the UK because of the congestion or that they will be able to secure a return journey full of whatever product it is, that’s going to make it much more unlikely for them to come in the first place.
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