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Tourists have been warned they could face two-hour delays at the port of Dover this Easter break weekend. On Thursday evening, ferry operator DFDS urged tourists to "allow 120 minutes to complete border checks and check-in" at Kent Port over the busy bank holiday weekend. It comes after chaotic scenes in the port last weekend when thousands of people were reportedly delayed until 2 p.m.
At one point on Thursday there were queues of "around 90 minutes" for French authorities to check passports at the port as the Easter rush began amid "high volumes of traffic", DFDS said.
The delays at Dover have been blamed on French border authorities carrying out additional checks and stamping British passports after Brexit.
Port officials said they had carried out an "urgent review" with ferry operators and French authorities to prevent a repeat of last weekend's delays.
The ferry companies are asking coach operators booked for departures on Good Friday, which is expected to be the busiest day for Easter travel from Dover, to "extend the journey" over the three-day period of Thursday to Saturday.
A back-to-back general strike in France over pension reform is also causing upheaval.
About 400,000 people joined a protest in Paris on Thursday against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform, the French union CGT said.
Macron's attempt to raise the national retirement age from 62 to 64 sparked days of unrest, with reports of police firing tear gas and some protesters starting fires in Paris on Thursday.
Many flights to, from and over France have been grounded as air traffic controllers joined the strike.
British Airways has canceled at least 20 flights that would have used French airspace on Thursday.
Eurostar has canceled a train both ways between London and Paris.
The protesters also blocked a road leading to Terminal 1 of the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.
Flights were not affected, but many passengers were forced to walk to and from the terminal.
Meanwhile, UK drivers have been warned to expect major delays on popular routes over the next few days.
The RAC forecasts that between Good Friday and Easter Monday up to 17 million leisure trips will be made by car.
An estimated two million British tourists will travel abroad over the long weekend, according to travel organization Abta, which reported strong demand for trips to mainland Spain, the Canary and Balearic Islands, the Algarve, Madeira, Cyprus, Croatia , Italy, Greece and southern Turkey.
PA wire
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