Workingman wrote:It was a problem because of the numbers of travellers but your lot always wanted to blame it on the EU / French.
The port estimated the demand, estimated the change in timings for each vehicle due to additional checks required by Brexit (stamping the passport at a minimum), and anything around Covid. Increased the booth allocation to 12, way higher than in any other year.
Half the French Douane don't turn up, half the booths are empty and shut. Dover is virtually blockaded and emergency vehicles can't move.
It's the fault of Brexit.
Absolutely I agree with you completely. By leaving the EU we allowed the French Douane to hold up travel to France because, when it really comes down to it, they don't like us very much and they'd rather we didn't come. That's OK, generally in the UK they don't like the French very much either.
There is, also, this little problem that French civil service are in open rebellion because they aren't getting a pay rise but inflation is going through the roof. So they are having a go slow. But let's not let reality intrude here. When the Spanish air traffic controllers shut down and screw the flights in and out of Span that will be the problem of Brexit too. You know it's going to happen because inflation is rocketing and pay rises only come on the back of strikes. But it will be ALL the fault of Brexit.
It may surprise some but 80% of French holiday and France. Only 20% travel. They don't like having to deal with furriners or their language you know!
Most EUphiles think that the EU is all one happy leisure park with everyone singing in tune and the only people not in lock step are the UK. This is pure fantasy land. There are 24 (I think), official languages in the EU and with those languages go centuries of attitude and dislike. In fact the worst possible thing a German or Dutch person can do is to turn up in France and speak English to the French.
The moment you give any one of them a firm handle to screw one, or more, of the others over, they grab it with both hands and start hauling on it.
Brexit is just one of those handles.
They will stop doing this kind of BS when people start turning up 12 hours early and the entire port goes to crap trying to deal with them. Because it will be a wasted effort. Then it will start working more smoothly and all this talk of Brexit will go away again.
Until people start turning up 2 hours early again (they know), then they will do this all over again.
