an agreement has finally been reached
between the uk and france
to restart the flow of passengers and
freight between the two countries
the armed forces will be part of an
operation to test lorry drivers
the system is called a lateral flow test
and delivers a covered result in around
20 minutes
it will take several days for the new
system to clear the backlog
with some three thousand lorries in kent
waiting to cross the english channel
the french border was closed on sunday
amid growing concern
about a new variant of coronavirus
spreading to all parts of the uk
flights ferry services and eurostar
trains will resume services tomorrow
morning
but these will only be available to
french nationals
eu citizens and people with residency in
france
if they've tested negative covid less
than three days
before travelling our transport
correspondent caroline davis has the
latest in dover
parked nose to bumper almost 3 000
lorries stranded in kent this is
operation brock in action
a way of keeping kent's roads moving by
diverting lorries to an empty
well airstrip is manston airfield and as
you can see there's just been a steady
stream
of lorries coming past me since i've
been standing here and it's looking like
over there
it's already filling up some in the
industry worried that as many as six to
seven
thousand lorries were heading to dover
today along the route inn
miles from the port lorries tucked into
lay bys or parking lots
by the side of the road we meet hamid
from turkey he showed us his bread
yogurt eggs and tea he carries with him
to keep him going
with a few words of english he told us
he's come from leeds
and got stuck here on his way home
many of the drivers here now have empty
lorries after dropping their food and
goods off for christmas
everything was okay nothing appointed
branco arrived on sunday
they're trying to get home to bosnia and
italy we were hoping to
go back to our homes for new year's
with our family to celebrate but now
it's
not very happening not this year we
don't have
bathroom we don't have the anything you
know
we are stuck here maybe for days
by this evening frustrations were
starting to show with a spontaneous
protest
outside the port entrance and then a
breakthrough
any passengers going to france and at
the moment i'm afraid that's mostly
french citizens returning and one or two
other
exceptions will need a lateral flow test
or a pcr test but a test within the
72-hour period
before they go to france of course
anyone coming this way and again we're
not encouraging anybody to travel right
now
we'll need to follow our rules which are
self-isolation for ten days
or a test to release after five days
and further news on lorry drivers from 6
am
tomorrow morning the army and nhs staff
will begin the process
of testing hauliers at marston airport
they'll be using the lateral flow test
rather than the pcr test
which is much faster around half an hour
if the driver tests negative
they they'll be free to go across to
france regardless
of their nationality
[Music]
tonight in dover there was still anger
and confusion
this is not good that's uh animal things
and now they say that they need they
need the pcr test
how you see the cure
we have our test because we were
thinking about this
when was when we were thinking about
going in romania we have
we had our tests already but they didn't
say anything about
many in the industry were hoping for a
deal but no this will be a logistical
challenge
if it's the way it has to be done we'll
have to find a way but it will be very
slow
and it will have a long-term impact on
our ability to move our freshman
chilled food this evening the government
are asking julia's not to travel to kent
many will spend a third night here in
their vehicles and they're still not
certain
if they'll get back for christmas well
let's go live to dover caroline is there
for us
with the latest we talk about clearing
this backlog caroline you kind of hinted
at the end of your piece there
how long is it going to take you think
realistically
well hugh this won't be instantaneous we
know that there are thousands of lorries
parked up across kent
and of course there are many more other
smaller vehicles here in dover as well
tonight
the government has said that it will
take two to three days to clear the
backlog of hauliers
it's worth mentioning as well that the
testing won't just be taking place here
there will be other locations as well
and there's due to be more information
for hawley's about that tomorrow
now speaking to some of the people who
are in the smaller vehicles
here in dover they are just desperate
for new news
about what will happen what will it take
to get them home they look at the queue
up ahead of them and to be honest they
lose hope of being
able to get back in time for christmas
um
this is going to be a big operation the
government have said that
they think that they will be able to get
people through as quickly as possible
everyone here
is just hoping that they will be able to
not have to sleep in their vehicles
for too many more nights caroline many
thanks again caroline there for
with the latest at dover and with me in
the studio our business editor
simon jack to talk really simon about
the impact on business
and what people are telling you today
well i think what this has been is a
very stark demonstration of just how
important this trade route dover and the
euro tunnel at folkestone
are to british business how quickly and
profoundly things can start to go wrong
couple of examples
toyota this morning said it was going to
shut at lunch time which it did
that's 36 hours earlier than they would
normally have done as they were running
out of parts
and supermarkets people have seen
pictures of empty shelves doing the
rounds
on social media now the supermarkets are
very clear to say we've got the stock
it's there those shelves will be
replenished however tesco today
already had a limit of three items on
things like pasta flour baby wipes to
that they have added
lu roll eggs rice soap a couple other
things they say to smooth demand not
because they're running out another
major supermarket said they saw no
reason to impose cats because people
were
shopping heavily but rationally they
said there's a lot more christmases
going on
people who would have been going to
relatives or friends are having to
replicate that in their own homes
now if we don't see this congestion
lifting soon as karen was saying
there is no reason to suspect it's going
to move in the next 24 to 48 hours that
backlog
then we will see shortages of fresh food
beginning after christmas
and in many ways the government has said
to me and to others that this is in a
way a stress test for some of their
contingency measures for brexit which
let's not forget
is in nine days businesses very keen to
stress
how interdependent this demonstrates
that our economies are and the
message there is please please please do
a deal
soon simon manny thanks again simon
jackson our business editor