DOVER PORT FACES CHAOS OVER EU ENTRY SYSTEM, MPS WARN

The home affairs select committee chair, Karen Bradley, has urged the government to apply maximum pressure on French authorities to resolve problems with the EU's entry/exit system (EES) before peak summer holiday traffic arrives at Dover. The committee warned that passengers and the port face "utter chaos and miles of tailbacks" unless the technology is fixed or checks suspended by the following week. Dover expects its busiest weekend around 17 July as school holidays begin, with the port anticipating nearly 50% more vehicles than usual. Bradley stated that the Home Office must either get the system operational or suspend checks to prevent significant delays to British holidaymakers and goods transport firms.

The port reported that EES checks during the May half-term holiday caused four and a half hours of delays. An £40 million biometric kiosk facility designed for car travellers remains closed because of technology and software delays from French authorities. The western docks have been converted into a processing centre for coach passengers undergoing the entry/exit system checks. The committee of MPs visited Dover to inspect the port's modified layout, which includes 84 automatic kiosks designed to accelerate traffic processing.

The EU rejected calls from airports and airlines across Europe to suspend the system's fingerprinting and facial recognition controls on Tuesday, although EU officials acknowledged "20 difficult spots" where the system was causing tailbacks. Officials stated that only 20 of 1,500 border crossing points were experiencing significant problems. Doug Bannister, the port's chief executive, wrote to the business and trade committee warning of potential impacts on local towns, transport, freight and trade if EES problems remained unresolved.