In todays news...

[Horse]

The numbers were plugged in and the number of booths increased from 7 to 10. But as said before, only 4 French officials arrived to man them.

If you know anything about queuing theory you'll know what the inevitable outcome of the reduction of service points from 10 to 4 would be. If you don’t know about queuing theory please say so and I'll provide references to help you.

(In another life I worked for Beecham Pharmaceuticals in Operations Research dealing with these sorts of problems).

Cheers.

Thanks, exactly what I said then

Reported that today (Saturday) 10 French officials did turn up to man the booths as had also been requested for Friday. So no, exactly not as you said.

And still there are delays? So not exactly ...

[Horse]

Monday's headlines:

Travel disruption and queues continue

[Hoonercat]

The numbers were plugged in and the number of booths increased from 7 to 10. But as said before, only 4 French officials arrived to man them.

If you know anything about queuing theory you'll know what the inevitable outcome of the reduction of service points from 10 to 4 would be. If you don’t know about queuing theory please say so and I'll provide references to help you.

(In another life I worked for Beecham Pharmaceuticals in Operations Research dealing with these sorts of problems).

Cheers.

Thanks, exactly what I said then

Reported that today (Saturday) 10 French officials did turn up to man the booths as had also been requested for Friday. So no, exactly not as you said.

And yet this, from P&O

It stresses the A20 in Dover is also blocked, with delays of up to 45 minutes. "Once you reach the port, the wait time is approximately 90 minutes to two hours to reach border checks," the ferry firm added.

That's without the time spent stuck in hours of traffic because a large stretch of the county's main motorway was closed off to accomodate all the freight heading for France. It's a shambles. Operation Brock has been a complete failure, it's only supposed to be used between junctions 8 and 9, leaving 2 lanes for non-freight traffic.

The Operation Brock contraflow system is designed to keep traffic on the M20 and other roads in Kent moving when there is disruption to travel across the English Channel

But instead

M20 coastbound between junctions 8 and 12 open for EU freight only
Non-EU freight and all other vehicles must leave at junction 8 and follow the diversion route using the A2, M2 and A20. EU freight should stay on the M20 and join the queue.

[Horse]

@Hoonercat not enough underlining to ensure that everyone knows that you're correct

[Mussels]

Thanks, exactly what I said then

Reported that today (Saturday) 10 French officials did turn up to man the booths as had also been requested for Friday. So no, exactly not as you said.

And yet this, from P&O

It stresses the A20 in Dover is also blocked, with delays of up to 45 minutes. "Once you reach the port, the wait time is approximately 90 minutes to two hours to reach border checks," the ferry firm added.

That's without the time spent stuck in hours of traffic because a large stretch of the county's main motorway was closed off to accomodate all the freight heading for France. It's a shambles. Operation Brock has been a complete failure, it's only supposed to be used between junctions 8 and 9, leaving 2 lanes for non-freight traffic.

The Operation Brock contraflow system is designed to keep traffic on the M20 and other roads in Kent moving when there is disruption to travel across the English Channel

But instead

M20 coastbound between junctions 8 and 12 open for EU freight only
Non-EU freight and all other vehicles must leave at junction 8 and follow the diversion route using the A2, M2 and A20. EU freight should stay on the M20 and join the queue.

Operation stack was between junctions 8 and 9, it was designed that way when that part of the M20 was built. It was only ever intended to hold freight and I would imagine operation Brock is the same.
Operation Brock made changes to junction 8 and the M26 so it seems to me it's being used as it was designed to, unless you think cars with children should be put in a holding area they can't get out of.

[Horse]

Taking back control. Of traffic.

[irie]

Seems that there are road gridlocks in many places in continental Europe, all caused by Brexit of course.

[Hoonercat]

Reported that today (Saturday) 10 French officials did turn up to man the booths as had also been requested for Friday. So no, exactly not as you said.

And yet this, from P&O

It stresses the A20 in Dover is also blocked, with delays of up to 45 minutes. "Once you reach the port, the wait time is approximately 90 minutes to two hours to reach border checks," the ferry firm added.

That's without the time spent stuck in hours of traffic because a large stretch of the county's main motorway was closed off to accomodate all the freight heading for France. It's a shambles. Operation Brock has been a complete failure, it's only supposed to be used between junctions 8 and 9, leaving 2 lanes for non-freight traffic.

The Operation Brock contraflow system is designed to keep traffic on the M20 and other roads in Kent moving when there is disruption to travel across the English Channel

But instead

M20 coastbound between junctions 8 and 12 open for EU freight only
Non-EU freight and all other vehicles must leave at junction 8 and follow the diversion route using the A2, M2 and A20. EU freight should stay on the M20 and join the queue.

Operation stack was between junctions 8 and 9, it was designed that way when that part of the M20 was built. It was only ever intended to hold freight and I would imagine operation Brock is the same.
Operation Brock made changes to junction 8 and the M26 so it seems to me it's being used as it was designed to, unless you think cars with children should be put in a holding area they can't get out of.

That's not correct. Stack used part of the M20 as a lorry park, with other traffic diverted around junction 8 to 9. It was replaced with Brock, which uses a contraflow sytem via a moveable-barrier to ensure non-freight traffic keeps moving (albeit under a slower speed limit and with less lanes). Yesterday basically saw a returm to Operation Stack, with junctions 8 to 12 closed to non-freight traffic.

If you see on this page that the contraflow is ‘in’ you can still use the M20, but you should allow more time for your journey. Because it’s a contraflow and the road layout is different, a speed limit of 50 mph will be in place. This also means the motorway continues to run in both directions.

Screenshot from Highways England. Reading from the bottom up (ie latest updates are put at top), the amber alert is how Brock is supposed to work, clearly it isn't working and today the M20 is still closed from junctions 8 to 12.

Brock.png (31.92 KiB) Viewed 258 times

[DefTrap]

Sunday is the day to go to Dover then (or this is all Tory / DailyMail hysteria to generate racial hatred and policy swerve).

I'm on a Calais bound ferry now, no traffic delays at all, French passport control operating smoothly and friendly. I came down M11, M25, M2, A2. Even managed to get earlier ferry. Done me a favour really, I might bin my overnight stop and just crack on home a day early.

[Horse]

Seems that there are road gridlocks in many places in continental Europe, all caused by Brexit of course.

So are those occurring at within-EU border crossings?

[DefTrap]

So are those occurring at within-EU border crossings?

Presumably every problem nothing to do with brexit is proof that brexit works now. There certainly isn't any other evidence!

[Hoonercat]

So are those occurring at within-EU border crossings?

Presumably every problem nothing to do with brexit is proof that brexit works now. There certainly isn't any other evidence!

Plenty of evidence to the contrary though. On Saturday, the Chief Exec of Dover port conceded that the port didn't have the infrastructure, resources or capacity to deal with either freight or non-freight post-Brexit volumes during peak times. In his words 'This is something that is concerning us because if we don't get that right, everything will stop.'

Kent Tory MP Natalie Elphicke initially joined the bandwagon and blamed the French, before later stating that major investment is needed for the port, roads and lorry parking. (As an aside, this is the same Tory MP who only a few months ago stated that freight delays had nothing to do with Brexit, it was the fault of EU red tape at the border )

The road haulage industry has been warning that the road network doesn't have the means to cope with post-Brexit checks, given that the port itself doesn't have the capacity.

Some very naughty French MP had the cheek to state the Port of Dover is too small to deal with both post-Brexit freight and non-freight when traffic volumes are high.

Liz Truss, the bookies favourite to become the next PM, blames the French, rather than accepting that a lack of planning and investment is the problem. Given that current non-freight traffic volumes are far below pre-Covid volumes for the same time of year, that should be a huge concern to UK voters because, like her predecessors, she'd rather continue to kick the can down the road while laying the blame at the feet of others than actually do something to address the problem. It's almost as worrying as a French MP having a better grasp of the problem than the next UK PM.

But never fear, today she is in the headlines for promising to clamp down on illegal immigrants. She must have been impressed with the French border control efforts to keep out illegal immigrants on her visit to Kent this weekend

[Horse]

Kent Tory MP Natalie Elphicke ... stated that freight delays had nothing to do with Brexit, it was the fault of EU red tape at the border

That, of course, would have been an unpredictable outcome?

If it's bad now, imagine what it might be like if the UK Govt decide to piss off the EU by tearing up the exit agreement. 'Wet' passport stamps will be the least of it.

[JamJar]

Seems that there are road gridlocks in many places in continental Europe, all caused by Brexit of course.

Where?

[Mussels]

Seems that there are road gridlocks in many places in continental Europe, all caused by Brexit of course.

Where?

https://www.euronews.com/2022/07/24/800 ... h-gridlock

'800km of traffic'
There were also similar scenes of travel disruption across other European countries, as the peak vacation season gets underway.

[Horse]

Seems that there are road gridlocks in many places in continental Europe, all caused by Brexit of course.

Where?

https://www.euronews.com/2022/07/24/800 ... h-gridlock

'800km of traffic'
There were also similar scenes of travel disruption across other European countries, as the peak vacation season gets underway.

Is that it? Holiday traffic queues, but not as bad as last year?

Authorities recorded a peak of 790 kilometres (490 miles) of traffic jams Saturday lunchtime on the main roads used by holidaymakers.

This peak was lower than the 930 kilometres (577 miles) recorded in France a year ago.

The situation was "in line with forecasts", indicated the Bison Futé website


And ...

In Croatia, as the tourist season reaches its peak, traffic has increased on all roads heading towards tourist destinations on the Adriatic coast.

And ...

In Switzerland, holiday traffic at the Gotthard north portal was backed up for 15 kilometres with waiting times of up to 2 and a half hours.

It's hardly as if no-one has ever gone on holiday, or exported goods, via Dover and the Tunnel, and these are new and novel things.

[Noggin]

Every saturday in hte winter, we see anything from 50km - 120km+ queues here, but, that's 'normal' due to the roads and number of vehicles. We (and all the authorities) expect it and deal with as a normal thing

What's going on at Dover ain't normal!!

So comparing 'expected' holiday traffic across europe to the current situation at Dover is somewhat cynical!!

[JamJar]

Seems that there are road gridlocks in many places in continental Europe, all caused by Brexit of course.

Where?

https://www.euronews.com/2022/07/24/800 ... h-gridlock

'800km of traffic'
There were also similar scenes of travel disruption across other European countries, as the peak vacation season gets underway.

I had no idea there were so many passport controls all over Europe.

[Pirahna]

Where?

https://www.euronews.com/2022/07/24/800 ... h-gridlock

'800km of traffic'
There were also similar scenes of travel disruption across other European countries, as the peak vacation season gets underway.

I had no idea there were so many passport controls all over Europe.

Well now you know. They're also all staffed by an insufficient number of French who are mostly late for work, that's if they bother to turn up at all.

[Horse]

Hmmm a quick Google shows how serious it actually is:

According to TCS (Touring Club Suisse), a queue of 10 km was reported on the northern side of the Gotthard road tunnel

Oh, hang on ... 17/07/2017

There's also:
https://swissxover.com/gotthard-tunnel- ... affic-jam/

WHAT IS THE GOTTHARD TRAFFIC JAM?
The Gotthard Tunnel Traffic Jam is a traffic jam that will occur over 150 days per year in front of the North Entrance to the Gotthard tunnel in the direction to Italy/Canton Ticion Switzerland and over 180 days per year in front of the Gotthard Tunnel South Entrance.