During the Easter holiday season in the UK, it was reported that buses traveling to Europe took up to 15 hours to pass through Dover Port. Since Dover Port is a key transportation hub of the English Channel, there is controversy within the UK over whether this situation is due to Brexit.
According to major UK media on the 3rd, since the 31st of last month, severe congestion occurred at the entrance of Dover Port as vehicles trying to cross the English Channel by ferry to Europe piled up. With a significant increase in school trip buses heading to Europe during the holidays, up to 20,000 people were trapped in their vehicles for hours. Teen students from Newcastle departed at 10 a.m. on the 31st and only arrived at an Austrian ski resort after 50 hours.
The congestion was mostly cleared by that morning. Some interpret this as a side effect of Brexit. The operator of Dover Port also said in an interview with a media outlet, "When going to the EU, passports must be stamped individually," calling it "a result of Brexit." Although EU entry inspections due to Brexit officially began in 2021, it is explained that there was not much movement during that time because of COVID-19.
The operator predicted that the situation would become more difficult after November when the EU implements a new border control system. People coming from outside the EU will have to provide four fingerprints and have their photo taken, which could take up to 10 minutes per vehicle. Currently, it takes about 90 seconds per vehicle, which is already more than twice as long as before Brexit.
However, Home Secretary Suella Braverman dismissed the issue, saying it was simply caused by the increased number of vehicles using Dover Port. The Labour Party also argued, "We should avoid directly linking this to Brexit," and claimed, "It is because the Conservative government failed to properly respond to the increased demand."
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