Coronavirus border shut down: Thousands of lorries stream into Manston airport to relieve traffic chaos on routes to Dover and Folkestone

It played a vital role during the war in helping the RAF protect Britain from invasion by Germany-occupied France.

But today Manston airport near Ramsgate is acting as giant lorry park due to the French borders ban on British traffic.

Hundreds of lorries stream into Manston Airport

And a steady stream of HGVs is beginning fill the mile-long runway which is said to be capable of accommodating up to 4,000 trucks

The site had been on standby for overflow lorry parking in the event of a no-deal Brexit and haulage chaos.

But it has come into emergency use after the French authorities closed their ports to British freight and passenger traffic when it was revealed that a new strain of coronavirus was running “out of control” in the UK.

As a result, Operation Stack has led to huge tailbacks of lorries on the routes to Dover and Folkestone, leading to 900 lorries parked up on the M20 last night.

And now Operation Fennel has been implemented after a special development order was approved by the Government to allow lorries to park at Manston for 48 hours.

Frantic talks between the French and British government are underway to discuss the lifting of the travel ban so traffic movement can resume.

One of the discussions is around the coronavirus testing of drivers entering France.

Lorries at Manston Picture: UKNIP

Refreshments for driver at Manston Picture: UKNIP

Some are suggesting the existing Covid-19 testing site at Manston should be put to use.

Margate and Cliftonville county councillor Barry Lewis (Lab), said: “If we’ve got hundreds of lorry drivers stuck at Manston airport doing nothing, why don’t the authorities use that time to do flow testing?

Graham Pask from the Road Haulage Association is calling for Covid-19 testing drivers at Manston

“You’ve got half of Manston being used as a lorry park and the other half being used for coronavirus testing, it would suggest to me you put the two together and solve the problem.”

Graham Pask from the Road Haulage Association also believes negative Covid-19 tests could help convince France to reopen the border sooner and allow hauliers through.

Lorries at Manston Picture: UKNIP

He said: “We seem to be waiting for instruction from France as to how they can solve this, but I think we should pre-empt this by starting to test these drivers and give them Covid tests.

“The facility at Manston already has a current Covid testing site, albeit for UK nationals.

“Hopefully within a certain reasonable period of time those tests can be proven to the French authorities and we can start getting these guys repatriated.”

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