Motorists heading for Dover might be held in ‘automotive stacking’ websites
Motorists heading for Dover could be held in ‘car stacking’ sites while waiting to board ferries to minimise gridlocks once new EU entry rules come into force.
New zones away from main roads are being prepared as an overspill for port traffic once the EU’s Entry/Exit system (EES) takes effect from November.
The Government is understood to be in talks with landowners to use sites in the event of severe congestion, amid concerns from the local Ashford council that the new system could see queues of up to 15 hours at the UK’s busiest port.
Under the EES, all non-EU passengers will be required to have their fingerprints and photo taken on their first entry into the Schengen area.
The stacking sites will be designed to be brought into and out of use at high speed, and could include fields with matting on them, a source told the Times.
New ‘stacking’ sites are being prepared at the Port of Dover to reduce queues when the EU’s new Entry/Exit system comes into effect in November (file photo)
Work has already begun to convert Granville Dock, an unused cargo dock at the Port’s western end, into an area with EES checkpoints.
But the huge site, around the size of five football pitches, will not be ready for the system’s first major test at Christmas and is not set to be operational until Easter at the earliest.
The site also needs to be approved by French authorities, who conduct checks on British soil, to be used for border controls.
The Government announced funding last week of £3.5million for each of the Port of Dover, the Eurotunnel in Folkestone and the Eurostar at St Pancras International, to ready each frontier for the new system.
Drivers waiting to embark on ferry crossings will be stacked in lanes, where passengers in each vehicle will be registered by border officials with tablets.
Travellers may also be questioned on the purpose of their visit, duration of stay, their funds and be asked to provide proof of a return journey.
However sources were concerned that staff at the Port, which handles 1.3million cars annually, aren’t ready for the changes, having not even seen the technology they will be using to process passengers.
Cars will join new stacking lanes where passengers will be registered by border officials using tablets
Passengers for the Channel Tunnel will be able to register in a terminal at Folkestone, where they will need to leave their cars.
Ministers believe the potential for queues there is less likely than at the Port of Dover, where space is far more limited.
The new stacking sites at Dover are being ‘kept under review as a contingency plan’, minister for migration and citizenship Seema Malhotra said.
‘We are continuing to work with the councils, the European Union and our French counterparts to make sure we are as possible to minimise the risk of long queues, particularly at peak travel times.’
