Holiday travel hell finally eases at Dover — but switches to Channel Tunnel after lorry chaos on M20
HOLIDAY travel hell finally eased at Dover yesterday — but switched to the nearby Channel Tunnel.
Traffic jams swamped the Eurotunnel car terminal in Folkestone, Kent, after part of the M20 was shut to park 600 lorries.
It was a knock-on from the nightmare that gripped the Port of Dover on Friday and Saturday — with ferries struggling to clear the freight backlog.
Holidaymaker Manesh Luthra was one of thousands who got stuck in queues for the tunnel.
He said: “It was the worst 21 hours we’ve experienced. We moved just metres in hours.”
Teacher trainer Marc Naylor said he moved just two miles in 21 hours, adding: “We are finally on a train.
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“Only another three and a half hours to go on the other side but that will be bliss compared to the last day.”
The AA warned drivers going to Folkestone to prepare for a long wait.
It said: “Dover has recovered, but Folkestone has become the hotspot of holiday hell.”
Eurotunnel operator Getlink said it was at capacity and but the tickets of late arrivals would be honoured.
With congestion cleared in Dover, the average wait was down to less than an hour yesterday.
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The day before, some travellers sat in their cars for seven hours due to a shortage of French passport control staff.
Ajmal Yavazi, 31, who drove from West London yesterday, said he had no delays, adding: “It was fine.”