DRIVERS have been warned they face being trapped in “car stacking” sites near Dover in an attempt to avoid 15-hour queues.
Measures have been drawn up to avoid gridlocked chaos at the port when strict new EU border controls come into place.
The new European Entry/Exit System (EES) is due to start this November and the plans have been drawn up in an attempt to avoid severe problems on the roads of Kent.
Sites away from the main road network could be used to “stack” cars wanting to use the UK’s busiest port, sources say.
More than 1.3million vehicles use the port each year.
Members of Ashford Borough Council wrote to MPs sitting on the European Scrutiny Committee to raise concerns of the possibility of 15-hour queues caused by the EES.
Ministers are now thought to be in the process of signing agreements with landowners so that sites can be opened quickly should the traffic start to snarl up.
The measures are believed to have been lifted from the “no-deal Brexit playbook” when there were fears there could be huge disruption at the port.
Under the incoming EES, all passengers who do not have an EU passport will be required to have their fingerprints registered and their photograph taken.
These will be done when first entering the Schengen zone and then checked at every entry and exit.
Passengers may also face being questioned about their trip, in a similar way to when arriving in the US, being asked about the purpose of their visit, when they intend returning and if they have sufficient funds to cover their stay.
Under the plans, motorists arriving at Dover will queue in lanes to await undergoing the EES process.
At the head of the queue, officials with a tablet will register passengers in each vehicle.
It’s expected that processing each person will take around two minutes, indicating a family of four should take about eight minutes.
The minister for migration and citizenship Seema Malhotra told The Times: “We are keeping off-road sites under review [so] that, should they need to be used, we have a contingency plan for that.
“We continue to work with the councils, the European Union and our French counterparts to make sure we are as prepared as possible so we minimise the risk of long queues, particularly at peak travel times.”
The first big test of the new system is expected during the Christmas holiday although the key crunch test will be at Easter as the tourist traffic hits a peak for the first big holiday of the year.
A source told the paper: “These are sites that can ‘stand up, stand down’ at speed.
“They’ll be near major roads and designed to hold back traffic so key arteries in Kent don’t become totally gridlocked.
“They are even looking at some fields that could have matting on them.”
The Port of Dover is of particular concern to ministers due to border controls being “juxtaposed” with French formalities being carried out on UK soil – and space is limited.
At Folkestone, which has more room, passengers queueing up for the Channel Tunnel will use a terminal to register in a large new hangar and lengthy queues will be less likely.
The source added: “There is far less concern with the operation at the Channel Tunnel as it’s further progressed and there is room for people to park their vehicles.
“What is a major worry though is port traffic backing up and blocking access to the tunnel terminal.”
Gridlock chaos was avoided at the end of the Brexit transition and contingency measures were stood down because the exit date fell when large part of the UK were under lockdown restrictions and international travel was banned.
Officials though are said to be “increasingly worried” about the system.
A source said: “There are so many unknowns. Staff at Dover haven’t even seen the tablet they will be using in a couple of months’ time to process tens of thousands of passengers.”
Work has begun at the Port of Dover to fill Granville Dock, an old cargo dock in the port’s western area, to create a new processing area with EES kiosks for passengers.
However, the new area will not be ready until Easter at the earliest and also needs permission from the French interior ministry to use the new area for EU border controls.
The government announced an extra £10.5million in funding for Port of Dover, Eurotunnel at Folkestone and Eurostar at St Pancras to help avoid queues, last week.
Each port will receive £3.5million.
The money given to Dover will be used to work on the Granville project.
Roger Gough, the leader of Kent County Council, said that ministers needed to make “very urgent decisions on sites to hold traffic”.
He said: “Over a long period of time, we have called on government to step up its support for Kent ahead of the implementation of EU EES checks, to do everything it can to avoid disruption at key points on the border between the UK and France.
“We continue to press for urgent action, given that EES checks could result in extremely serious delays for international trade and those travelling through Kent, and the delivery of vital public sector services along the route to Dover.”
