Dover border chaos sparking holiday misery for Britons blamed on French computer error
This is estimated to be the busiest late May Bank Holiday for travel since 2019 but computer issues mean it has not started off well.
Dover: Holidaymakers discuss long queues for ferries
Holidaymakers and lorry drivers have been stuck in a traffic nightmare thanks to a French computer outage at Dover border control. And a computer failure at airports has caused horrendous queues for people flying back to the UK for the bank holiday weekend.
Tailbacks of four miles on the A20 leading into Dover have caused delays to people both trying to get to the port and around the town.
Long queues have also affected the A2, which is the main route from London to the English Channel port.
Dover MP Natalie Elphicke has tweeted: "This morning’s Dover queues have been caused by an unexpected French border control computer outage.
"This has now been fixed. It has come at an unfortunate time on such a busy day today.
"Inevitably this is currently impacting on roads & extra traffic controls have been deployed."
And the Port of Dover posted on Twitter: "Thank you for your patience as we catch up from earlier IT issues at border control, which have been resolved.
“Traffic now processing well through the border. Average waiting times for cars and coaches now 90 mins."
GB News reports that the delays into Dover are expected to continue throughout much of the day.
The RAC has estimated that the drivers across the UK will embark on 19.2 million leisure car trips between Friday and Monday making it the busiest late May bank holiday since 2019.
Transport data company Inrix warned that journeys on some stretches of the M25 will take up to three times longer than normal.
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They include clockwise from Junction 23 for Hatfield to Junction 28 for Chelmsford and anticlockwise towards the Dartford Crossing.
Long delays are also expected on the M5 in Somerset and the M6 in Cheshire and Greater Manchester.
And people flying back into the UK have also faced horrendous queues at airports due to faults with the passport e-gate system at airports.
There have been delays of several hours at airports including Heathrow and Gatwick as arrivals need to have their passports checked by hand rather than the automated machines.
One traveller arriving at Heathrow posted on Twitter: "Just landed to scenes of utter chaos. Two-hour queues just to get to the real queue. Gates broken."
Another passenger at Gatwick described the situation as an "utter joke".
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A Gatwick Airport spokesperson said the problem started yesterday evening but queues had eased by this morning.
He said: "Some passengers may experience delays at immigration due to a nationwide issue with UK Border Force e-gates.
"Our staff are working with UK Border Force - who operate passport control including the e-gates - to provide assistance to passengers where necessary."
Heathrow Airport posted on Twitter: "We are aware of a nationwide issue impacting the eGates, which are operated by Border Force.
"This issue is impacting a number of ports of entry and is not Heathrow-specific.
"Our teams are working closely with Border Force to help resolve the problem as quickly as possible and we have additional colleagues on hand to manage queues and provide passenger welfare. We apologise for any impact this is having to passenger journeys."
A Home Office spokesperson said Border Force had put in place "robust plans" to deploy officers to minimise disruption and wait times.
The automated e-gate system is available for British citizens aged over 12 and those from the EU, as well as people from several other countries including Australia, Canada, the US, Japan and New Zealand.
The spokesperson said: "We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the UK.
"We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and are liaising with port operators and airlines to minimise disruption for travellers."
The problems come after British Airways had to cancel 175 flights following an IT failure on Thursday and Friday.