Calais

Long queues of travellers formed earlier at the Port of Dover, which have been blamed on IT issues at French border controls.

The delays, which lasted into the afternoon, were described as “absolute chaos” by one traveller, and images of the port showed a long line of vehicles queuing at a standstill.

Eurotunnel was also experiencing lengthy delays at its Folkestone terminal on Saturday – at the start of a weekend which is expected to see the Christmas getaway reach its peak.

The Port of Dover reported that traffic was free-flowing just before 15:00 GMT, after several hours of delays.

The port is expected to see about 30,000 cars pass through it until Sunday.

One traveller had posted earlier on X: “Horrible experience at Port of Dover this morning. Absolute chaos.

“Traffic at a standstill for an hour. Worst start to holiday imaginable. Just missed our boat. Still stuck. Kids in car.”

One local resident told the BBC the town was “proper rammed”.

The port advised passengers not to arrive more than two hours before their sailing.

It said if customers do miss their scheduled sailing due to the wait times, their ferry operator will place them on the next available crossing.

Long queues were also seen on the roads leading into Dover.

A port spokesperson asked all port-bound traffic to remain on main roads “to allow the Dover community to travel to festive events and finish their Christmas shopping in the town”.

Eurotunnel said it had a waiting time of two and a half hours for cars and 60 minutes for freight at its Folkestone terminal due to “high demand”.

Meanwhile, public transport operators had experienced problems reaching the port.

Bus company Stagecoach said in a statement: “Due to heavy traffic at the docks the service will be unable to serve Eastern Docks at the moment.”