Entry-Exit System (EES) checks have been suspended at Dover as holidaymakers heading to France for half-term faced queues of more than four hours.
French border authorities suspended the post-Brexit EES checks this morning as Bank Holiday traffic built up at the port, where authorities described the queues as “challenging”.
There have been long delays at airports from EES biometric checks in recent months, but the fingerprints and facial scans required are not yet being carried out on car passengers at Dover due to problems with French border technology.
Only coach passengers at the port have been having their biometrics taken for the past few months, with French Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) instead manually creating an EES file for car travellers since 10 April.
But this morning’s suspension until traffic is cleared has seen border officers reverting to manual stamping of passports, which EES is due to replace.
This busy Bank Holiday weekend was the first stress test on the effect of EES at Dover, but long delays have already led to queues along the A20 into Dover.
The French border police reverted to stamping passports at Dover to alleviate the long queues (Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)In a statement on X, the Port of Dover said they recognised the border process is slower with the current EES system, adding that this May half-term is the first peak period since its introduction.
French border teams were “doing their best within the parameters given” and were working with the highest available resources, the post said.
A Port of Dover spokesperson said: “Following the Port’s active escalation of the challenging situation in Dover with the relevant border authorities, we are pleased that Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) have responded positively by invoking the Article 9 clause of the EES regulations.
“While conventional border checks will still be undertaken, this will now enable PAF to significantly reduce the border processing time.”
European Commission rules governing EES allow checks to be suspended for short periods at specific border crossings in exceptional circumstances, with airports in France, Italy and Greece among those who have also suspended the checks in recent weeks.
One source said: “It is very busy at both the port and tunnel with lengthy queues, ultimately caused by EES registration being carried out at the border rather than biometrics at the purpose built areas.”
Tourist traffic in the port’s buffer zone was around two and a half hours, with queues of around two hours to access the Port.
‘Pretty awful’ queues
The port is preparing for 18,000 travellers between Friday and Sunday, and warned that the busiest periods each day will be between 6am and about 1pm.
Saturday will be the port’s busiest day of the year so far, with more than 8,000 travellers expected.
One of them, Phil Groves, 43, has been stuck in traffic in Dover for three hours as he tried to reach the port on Saturday morning, having left his home in Kingston, south London, just before 6am.
He described the queues as “pretty awful” since he and his family arrived into Dover at 7.40am ahead of a week-long holiday in France.
He told The i Paper: “We’re currently sat in a queue waiting to go through passport control.
“We kind of expected it was going to be bad, but I don’t think we expected it would be this bad.
“When you’re on the road there’s no access to things like toilets there’s no access to things like water you know, and, and that’s obviously very challenging.”
He added he felt “very sorry” for people in Dover who were frequently caught up in traffic chaos in their town, with delays often occurring before EES was launched last year.
But with biometric checks still to be rolled out for car passengers, he believes increased infrastructure was required.
“I think they’re probably going to have to think about how Dover as a port functions when they’ve got additional checks in the same way they did when Brexit first came in,” he said.
“I’m hopeful that we might be there at the ferry in an hour’s time.”
Last year, The i Paper revealed holidaymakers stuck in traffic chaos towards Dover and Eurotunnel caused by the EU’s post-Brexit border checks could be held at a motor racing track.
The Government has agreed a deal to use Lydden Hill Race Circuit in Kent as a holding area for passenger traffic to ease pressure on the M2 and M20 during long border delays.
This weekend, Dover’s traffic-management system TAP, which sees lorries held on the inside lane of the A20 outside the town, and Operation Brock, which allows lorries to queue on the M20, are in place.
EES, which launched in October, involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area’s 29 European countries.
Greece has already suspended the EES checks for British nationals are there are calls for other countries to follow suit amid fears of worse problems during May half-term and the peak summer holiday period.
Italy and France are among the other countries were airport border officials have temporarily suspended the checks as queues build up, as is permitted under rules governing EES.
But ACI Europe, a body representing over 600 airports, warned passengers were facing delays of up to three hours during peak travel periods and said “major concerns are now a reality”, with some passengers missing flights due to prolonged border processing times.
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