‘Worst it’s ever been’: travellers bemoan gridlock at Dover port

Barbara and Zeger Degroot picked the Isle of Wight over the Alps for their summer holiday this year as they wanted a shorter drive from their home in the Netherlands. With one child in the back, one in the front and two – including a newborn baby – in the middle, it had seemed like a wise option – until they encountered six-hour queues at Dover port on their way back.

“It’s not ideal,” said Barbara, adding that they had been on the road since 6.30am on Friday and did not expect to arrive home until late at night after missing their noon ferry, and were still stuck in queues outside the main port area at nearly 2pm.

Zeger said the family had received a message suggesting they arrive four hours in advance of their sailing. “We thought: ‘Haha, it’s not the airport’ – but it’s true.”

He said he had resorted to debating favourite ice-creams from the holiday to keep the children entertained (a rainbow Cornetto emerged the winner).

The Degroots were just one of many groups of passengers queuing for Dover port on Friday who shared with the Guardian their feelings of boredom and exasperation that they had spent part of their holidays in what felt like an interminable queue for the ferry as the authorities declared a “critical incident” amid the biggest summer getaway in years.

Valdis Filks: ‘By now we should be halfway to Germany.’ Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Most had left their homes in the early hours of the morning planning to catch ferries before noon, but were still stuck in queues by early afternoon, hoping to catch a later boat. Local residents were also frustrated, having to spend up to an hour in traffic to travel short distances.

Dover port authorities have blamed understaffing at French border control for the delay.

Valdis Filks travels from the UK, where he is from, to Sweden, where he lives, one or two times a year, and said this trip had been “very long and extremely annoying”, adding that the family had not had enough time to stop for a sandwich.

He and his family had departed from north London at 9am in the hope of arriving a couple of hours early for their 1.15pm boat, but by 2pm they were still stuck in a queue outside the port in Dover.

Traffic queues at Dover port on Friday. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

“By now we should be halfway to Germany from Calais in the time it’s taken to get here,” he said.

Another passenger in a car stuck in slow-moving queues was Bogdan Negrea, who was on his way from Coventry to Romania to visit family, a trip he makes yearly. “This is the worst it’s ever been. It’s awful. On a scale of one to 10 it’s 11 – it’s boring,” he said.

Negrea felt that his ferry operator had been slow to communicate. He had only received a text message warning of the delays two hours earlier – long after he had departed at 7am and close to the original departure time of 11am. He said he had only found out by reading the news that the queues were six hours’ long.

The Bronk family. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

James Powell, who was setting off with his family for a holiday in France, said he had to follow diversions on narrow country lanes to avoid the M20, which was closed due to an earlier collision. He was anticipating a full day’s travel before reaching his destination.

“We’ve decided the ferry isn’t such a good idea. We’ll go by train next time, it’s better than the ferry, more reliable,” he said.

Alex, Nathalie and Sara Bronk said they had been queueing since 8.30am. Having spotted a tweet warning of queues they thought they would come early, but still found themselves stuck. “It’s not fun,” said 12-year-old Sara.

Alex estimated that the usually seven-hour drive to their home in the Netherlands would take the family 13-15 hours. But he clung on to one silver lining: “At least it’s not still 40C.”