Major congestion over the weekend has seen vehicles clog roads into Folkestone and, subsequently, people struggling to board Eurotunnel train services.
The RAC Foundation said that despite massive delays into the Port of Dover and to the channel tunnel, Eurotunnel trains were operating normally.
Eurotunnel Le Shuttle promised to get passengers onto the next available service should they be late for their train, which it said was down “to part closure of the M20.”
One person said it took them 8 hours to travel three miles and onto a train on Saturday. One family told the BBC they had waited as long as 21 hours in traffic near Eurotunnel.
A number of travellers on Twitter were not blaming road issues, but rather processing at the Eurotunnel site.
A problem for decades
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “It would be a mistake to think the chaos we have seen around Dover and across East Kent this weekend is new and novel. These tailback problems have been around for decades and are stark evidence of how fragile our continental links across the Channel can be.
“Even when the new post-Brexit customs regime has bedded down ferry services can still fall prey to foul weather and industrial action.
“Successive governments have failed to grasp the nettle and invest in the scale of extra lorry parking – with facilities for drivers – instead relying on the inadequate solution of turning a motorway into a lorry park, with the consequent massive disruption that brings to the surrounding area.
“It’s high time we replaced the sticking plaster with a resilient solution worthy of the name.
“The irony is that even while Eurotunnel train services have been running smoothly customers are struggling to reach the terminal because of jammed up local roads caused by the chaos at Dover.”
