EU border chaos feared at Dover crossing as busiest summer weekend looms

Technical issues with the EU’s entry-exit system has caused massive congestion on Dover’s roads. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA View image in fullscreen Technical issues with the EU’s entry-exit system has caused massive congestion on Dover’s roads. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA EU border chaos feared at Dover crossing as busiest summer weekend looms British domestic holidays are being pushed to their highest levels since Covid The start of the peak summer season is set to bring millions of drivers on to British roads, with concerns of traffic chaos as the port of Dover faces its biggest test yet of new EU border controls. The semi-functioning entry-exit system (EES) is credited, along with the heatwaves and fears about flights after the war in Iran , with helping push British domestic holidays to its highest levels since Covid halted international travel. Motoring organisations expect this Friday to kick-off the busiest summer weekend for domestic leisure trips. The port of Dover is bracing for long tailbacks as thousands of holidaymakers join lorries at Britain’s main Channel ferry crossing from 6am. French border police, situated at Dover, will manually register non-EU travellers for EES. The new £40m automated facility built to speed through passengers is unable to operate due to software problems in the technology in France . Even though the French police aux frontières (PAF) will not be able to carry out the biometric registration required by EES – photographing and fingerprinting – the additional time needed to create a file for each visitor could still lead to long queues at the border, the port fears. About 7,500 cars travelling to France are expected at Dover on Friday, and 10,000 on Saturday, as peak summer season begins. The port has urged holidaymakers to use only main roads when driving to the port, and arrive no more than two hours before their booked sailing. Eurotunnel, operator of LeShuttle, which takes vehicles through the Channel tunnel, said that it did not anticipate delays as summer traffic built up. As at Dover, border police will still not be registering biometric information from its car passengers for EES this summer. Eurotunnel has likewise spent millions of pounds on automated processing kiosks which cannot yet be brought into service. Elsewhere, the RAC and Inrix expect the worst of the traffic on Friday in areas of the M25 around Greater London linking to the M3 to the southwest, as more than 14 million drivers make a getaway this weekend. With most schools in England and Wales closing this weekend for the summer, most leisure journeys will take place on Saturday, the RAC said, as part of the biggest domestic getaway since 2022. Spokesperson Harriet Hernando said: “The great British summer staycation is about to get off to a flying start, with many opting to stay in the UK instead of travelling abroad. This could be down to people having more confidence in the weather, as well as concerns over cancelled flights, higher