Border closure: Shoppers urged not to panic buy food while stranded lorry drivers face ‘nightmare before Christmas’

Lorry drivers are facing a “nightmare before Christmas” with hundreds still left stranded on Kent’s motorways and in surrounding areas on Monday night, unsure of when they will be able to leave the country.

Despite escalating problems at the port of Dover, government ministers, supermarkets and the haulage industry urged UK shoppers not to panic buy food, stressing that supplies were resilient and would hold up throughout the Christmas period.

Meanwhile, frustration grew among UK exporters unable to move goods across the Channel with businesses warning that millions of pounds of seafood destined for mainland Europe risked being thrown away.

It came as Boris Johnson failed to agree a resolution with France which closed its border with the UK to inbound lorries on Sunday in response to fears over an apparently faster-spreading variant of Covid-19.

After speaking to French president Emmanuel Macron on Monday, Mr Johnson pledged to reopen the border to freight traffic “as quickly as possible”.  

Earlier in the day France’s foreign minister had raised hopes of a swift resolution to chaos at Dover, tweeting that that a protocol would be adopted at a European Union-wide level “to ensure that movement from the UK can resume”.

The UK prime minister assured the nation that people could “shop normally”, although Sainsbury’s warned that a small number of items with short shelf lives such as salad leaves may soon be in short supply.

Facing the most acute problems were lorry drivers stuck in their cabs in the UK for a second night with few toilet, cleaning or recreation facilities available.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps said a queue of 500 lorries on the M20 in Kent had been reduced to around 170 with “a few” others in an overflow area by Monday evening. He claimed the disruption was equivalent to that caused by a period of very severe weather.

Self-employed lorry driver Russell Oliver labelled the minister’s interpretation “a load of bull”. He pointed out that hundreds of lorries had simply been moved to nearby Manston Airport where an overflow area has been created ahead of Brexit.

“Theres’ nothing down there. You’ve got a few portaloos, there’s no café, no rest area," he said.

“That’s why I’ve offered to go down there and do what I can, delivering sandwiches or whatever people need. How long are people going to be there? Two days? Four days? It’s just a big fiasco at the minute. "

"There are drivers trying to get home. The longer they sit there the less chance they have of getting home to their families in Spain, Portugal, Italy, eastern Europe.  

“Some of them are quite religious people. It means a huge amount.”

He argued that lorry drivers pose a low risk of spreading coronavirus and should be allowed to travel. “We are the most isolated people that you will meet. I’ve sat in my lorry today for nearly 14 hours, no one else has been in it.

“We might occasionally get out of the cab but then there are protocols we follow.”

Eugene Brennan of the Irish Road Haulage Association said the situation  was “absolutely crazy; awful". 

"There are massive delays and great anxiousness among drivers who can’t get home.  

“There are a lot of worried people, particularly those concerned about getting their food to market in time. It’s a hard enough job at the best of times.  

“You hear very little talk about the plight of drivers sat there for 14 or 16 hours, about their mental health, physical health, the lack of basic facilities for washing. It’s outrageous.”

Unite national officer for road transport, Adrian Jones said, "Drivers are suffering a nightmare before Christmas because of cross-channel gridlock.”  

He demanded the government provides drivers with proper facilities and support as well as Covid tests so they can demonstrate that they are not carrying the virus. 

Consumers - 'don't panic'

While lorry drivers face anxious days away from family before Christmas, consumers were told not to panic about potential shortages caused by a slowdown in traffic coming in from France.

At Monday’s Downing Street briefing, Boris Johnson reiterated that only a fifth of UK imports and exports are driven in via France on the back of lorries. Other freight which is not accompanied by a driver is not affected by the ban.

Retailers have brought in more stock than usual for the time of year amid long-standing concerns about border delays, said Road Haulage Association chief executive, Richard Burnett.

“The Christmas supply chain is resilient and our industry is very good at making sure we’ve got all the goods we need as we’ve shown throughout the pandemic.”

“So we urge people not to panic buy which could spark unnecessary shortages in January when some goods could already be harder to come by.”

Seafood exporters facing a 'disaster'

Businesses trying to export food from the UK were facing a more immediate crisis. Irish hauliers said they risked throwing produce away or being forced to accept below-market prices because of delays.

Tonnes of Scottish seafood worth millions of pounds is stuck at Dover, threatening one of the busiest times of year for Scotland’s fishermen.  

Scottish exporter Lochfyne said the border the closure was a “disaster”.

“There will be Vivier trucks from all over Scotland heading in that direction, millions of pounds worth of seafood at the time of the most important market of the year the last one before Xmas,” the company wrote on Twitter.

“Even if we get through 48 hours later we will miss the Xmas deadline, this is unbelievable.”

Scottish Seafood Association (SSA) chief executive Jimmy Buchan told the BBC: “These few days in the run up to Christmas are hugely busy for a lot of our members, with seafood destined for all parts of the continent going via France.

”Traditionally in Spain seafood is a major part of Christmas Eve, and most of our exports get there via the Eurotunnel or Dover-Calais routes, so it is a disaster for our members.“

Nicola Sturgeon called on the UK government to activate no-deal Brexit plans to combat the ongoing port disruption.  

”What absolutely is an immediate concern is the impact on exporters, not least of perishable goods such as seafood,” she said.  

“This is their most critical time of year and, right now, their products are trapped miles from their markets. That has to be urgently resolved.