'Summer chaos' fears as Operation Brock returns
PA MediaA summer of traffic delays could be on the cards for drivers in Kent due to hold-ups from the new EU border checks and the return of Operation Brock.
The biometric entry-exit system could cause delays as the technology, designed to phase out passport stamping, is not yet bedded in.
In a bid to ease problems the M20 Brock contraflow will be deployed in Kent to keep things moving when schools break up in July.
However, Ashford councillor Bill Barrett said: "We seem to be on a repeating circle and the results are chaos this summer for local people in Ashford and the rest of Kent."
'Summer even busier'
Operation Brock will be set up on the M20 coastbound, between junction eight, near Leeds Castle, and junction nine, near Ashford.
It will allow one side of the carriageway to function as a lorry park if there are problems at the Port of Dover or Eurotunnel.
Kent council's highways manager, Toby Howe, warned Brock could be used for years yet.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Howe told Ashford council's joint transportation board matters were being compounded by people's reluctance to fly because of fuel uncertainties caused by the Iran war.
While the May Bank Holiday and school half-term saw delays at the Channel port, he said summer was going to be "even busier".
Brock would be in place from mid-July until the end of August, Howe said, as it was expected there would be at least six "very busy" weekends at the port.
He said the system would prevent gridlock at junction 10a which serves Ashford's William Harvey Hospital and other NHS facilities.
'Little tangible progress'
Sevington's inland border facility could not be used for French authorities to process third-country nationals as French customs officials are only allowed to work at the Port of Dover and the Eurotunnel site, Howe said.
He added the inland border facility would also be no good for holding lorries as it was on the wrong side of the M20.
But using the M20, he believed, was not ideal.
"We should not be inconveniencing the residents of Kent due to tourists coming from Scotland or the Midlands to go on their holiday in Europe," he said.
Ashford MP Sojan Joseph has written to government minister Heidi Alexander to express his and residents' frustrations that "little tangible progress" had been made in finding an alternative to Brock.
Brock, he said, cost taxpayers £35,000 every day it was in place.
