Lorry drivers with negative Covid tests CAN enter France tomorrow

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Tensions in Dover boiled over this morning as dozens of angry lorry drivers who have been stuck at the port for the last two days clashed with police after testing staff arrived in an attempt to get them moving again.

The truckers, who are trying to reach their homes in Europe for Christmas, tried to force their way past officers guarding the port. Hundreds left their cabs and walked along the A20 to the port entrance in Kent at 8am jeering and whistling, with some shouting in English: ‘Open the border’, ‘We just want to go home’ and ‘F*** you, Boris!’

At one point several of them surged forwards towards a line of Kent Police officers who were forced to push them back as days of simmering anger at the chaotic situation amid the Covid-19 pandemic bubbled to the surface.  Some drivers showed police apparently negative results, but an officer said a lot of them were ‘fake test sheets’.

The Army and NHS staff are working together to administer the Covid-19 tests at Manston Airport, 18 miles away from the port, which are handed to drivers in their cabsto be self-administered under supervision. The result will then be communicated to the driver via text message or email, identifying them via their numberplate.

A deal has finally been struck with France after a ban on arrivals from the UK was imposed by President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, which has since seen thousands of trucks stranded in Kent, unable to cross the Channel. 

It comes as Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick warned it may take a ‘few days’ to clear the backlog of around 4,000 lorries waiting to cross the Channel. He said he hoped HGVs would begin crossing this morning.

The agreement requires every driver to have been tested for coronavirus, using controversial lateral flow tests, which are able to turn around results in under an hour but have had their effectiveness questioned.

However experts warned the UK still faces an uphill battle to test 6,000 drivers a day for coronavirus – with the International Road Transport Union warning even a 30-minute test would be ‘absolutely a disaster’.

Those who come back negative will be told by text message in as little as 20 minutes, and be given the green light to travel, but positive cases will get a PCR test – and if they are still positive, sent to a Covid-secure hotel to isolate.

Mr Macron had wanted lab-processed PCR tests which can take up to 72 hours before results are received. But he caved in after a third night of talks following pressure from fellow European leaders who urged a compromise.

A Whitehall source said: ‘Many of these are European lorries – there are a lot from Poland, for example – and [EU] member states have been telling France they want to get their drivers home. In the end, Macron folded.’

Until January 6, only lorry drivers and French and EU citizens or residents who have an essential reason to travel who show a negative test result less than 72 hours old will be allowed into France.

A testing site has been set up at Manston Airfield, 18 miles from Dover, but it is unclear how the thousands of drivers who parked up in the town causing two mile tailbacks and traffic gridlock last night are going to reach it. Another testing point was being set up today three miles away at the Dreamland amusement park in Margate.

One Polish driver told MailOnline: ‘We are sick of this – I’ve been in Dover for two days and want to go home for Christmas. The French said their border was being opened but we haven’t seen any evidence of this being true. There’s thousands of people queuing to get through the port and the roads are all at a standstill. Nobody wants another night sleeping in their cab.’

However a police officer at the scene said: ‘I understand why they are angry but they are directing their anger towards us when it’s the French authorities making the rules. They are insisting that only people who have tested negative for Covid-19 can come through. A lot of these drivers are waving fake test sheets.’ 

Staff wearing fluorescent jackets bearing the NHS Test and Trace logo arrived in the Kent town last night ahead of the huge testing regime, having made a 230-mile journey from Doncaster. As many as 6,000 tests a day could be carried out in a bid to help clear the huge backlog, with 150 soldiers also set to be drafted in to help. It comes as:

• More areas of England could be put into Tier 4 from Boxing Day amid fears over the spread of the new strain;
• Experts have found the variant has already spread around the UK, with cases identified in Wales and Scotland;
• Health chiefs in Cumbria say the variant is in the county and could be behind sharp increases in new cases;
• Lancashire’s director of public health said there was a ‘high likelihood’ the new variant was in the county;
• Labour says it will back any Government moves to tighten restrictions if that is what scientists recommended;
• Sinn Fein has said an island-wide travel shutout should be introduced in Ireland to stem the variant’s spread.

Today, passengers from the UK disembarked from ferries in the port of Calais following Britain and France’s deal easing the travel ban imposed over the discovery of the new Covid-19 variant. Much of Europe swiftly banned entry by British travellers and UK freight after a more transmissible strain of the coronavirus was found in Britain.

The ‘Cotes des Flandres’ ferry – the first ship to leave Dover after the restrictions were lifted – arrived at around 3.30am local time (2.30am UK time), followed shortly afterwards by P&O’s ‘Spirit of France’. A handful of passenger vehicles disembarked from the two ships but traffic was not expected to pick up until late this morning.

Emil Herkt, 26, from Tczew in Poland had delivered a consignment of metal to a warehouse in London on Sunday and been stranded in Britain ever since. He said: ‘It’s a farcical situation – nobody is telling us anything.

‘We have to apparently be tested for Covid but none of us know where to go. There is a testing site at Manston but that’s full already. Plus it’s nearly 20 miles away and the roads in and out of Dover are paralysed with traffic so how do we get there anyway?

‘Why haven’t the authorities set up testing here by the port where everyone is? It’s ridiculous as people are battling to get back to their homes for Christmas. The French are being very awkward and I mainly blame them but the British authorities haven’t handled this situation very well either.’

Ovidiu Badoiu, 47, a Romanian lorry driver who drove to Britain at the weekend to deliver a stock of fans to a factory in Telford, Shropshire, has been stuck in Dover since Monday.

He said: ‘It’s really difficult, I picked up my load in Romania and took it to the destination in the Midlands on Sunday and came down to Dover the following day where I’ve spent the last two nights sleeping in my lorry.

‘There are no toilets here, nowhere to get washed. I live in Valencia in Spain and just want to get back to my wife in time for Christmas. I think the French are being over the top about this, why are they not letting the lorries through? Hardly any of us are stopping in France, just travelling through it on to other destinations.’

Roads into Dover were gridlocked today, causing traffic chaos with hundreds of vehicles parked up waiting to be allowed down to the ferry terminal. Residential streets as far as three miles away from the port were at a standstill.

Locals bared the brunt of the traffic backlog with some seen deciding to pull a U-turn and retreat home. Vehicles were held on the A2 Jubilee Way with queues building up for five miles back to the Honeywood industrial estate.

The traffic at the Whitfield Roundabout continued back on to the A256 – the main road HGV drivers who have had their Covid-19 test at Manston Airport near Ramsgate will use to return to the Port of Dover.

And Raluca Marian, general delegate to the European Union of the International Road Transport Union, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We are definitely in a better place than yesterday. At least the border is now open. 

‘But the testing is a big issue. We have now several thousand drivers already at Manston Airport and in the Kent area, but we estimate around 10,000 and there are still around 7,000 to arrive there. 

‘We are happy that finally we have a deal, that the borders are open. At the same time this testing is a big challenge for us and we don’t think it will work. The backlog can’t be cleared if you get 30 minutes per driver, even with these quick tests, that’s going to be absolutely a disaster.

‘In spring, we had the famous temperature checks at the Austrian border in the first wave of the corona. It was much less than 30 minutes, round about five to ten minutes, and we had 60km (37 miles) of queues just because of these temperature checks.

‘Now that was a constant flow, so we didn’t have the backlog. Now we have 10,000 trucks piled up. So, New Year’s Eve, after New Year’s Eve, difficult to calculate.

‘We know that the European Commission is supporting and that pressure is being put on France to accept a better solution for testing. We know France insisted to have PCR tests for everybody, which is absolutely crazy, especially truck drivers.

‘This is really a lonely profession, they are alone in their cabins, they are not spreading. They are not only unnecessary, it’s a breach of France’s commitment earlier in the year when they committed to leave the logistics chain unaffected.

‘So we hope to have – at least if these tests are being kept, which we really hope not to be, we want no testing for truck drivers because even a 30-minute test is a disaster – but if these are kept, at least a kind of a compromise whereby you might have a testing corridor in France and not everybody stuck in the UK and tested there, could be reached and accepted by France, and we know the Commission is supporting that.’

Downing Street sources admit the programme ‘won’t be perfect’ from the off given its unprecedented nature, and warn that it could still be several days before traffic is flowing smoothly again. 

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News today: ‘We have had productive discussions over the last 24 to 48 hours, they have reached what seems like a sensible way forwards.

‘There is going to be quite a lot of work to do over the next few days and this isn’t going to be an issue that will be resolved immediately.

‘I wish events hadn’t played out in the way they have, but they have, we now have to move on and ensure that traffic can flow as quickly as possible across the Channel.

‘I hope that this morning you’ll see people and HGVs crossing the Channel at the short straits. We’re putting in place the infrastructure, so the Armed Forces will be doing that in the first instance to help us to set that up and to get through some of the backlog that you’ve seen.

‘They will then in turn hand over to civilians who will take this forward. We have a good operation in Kent that’s been tested very significantly in the last few days, led by the Kent Resilience Forum, but it has performed well.

‘So the work that had been done over a number of years to create the facility at Manston Airport, to create Operation Stack on the motorway, has worked quite successfully, but there is now a great deal to do.

‘The procedures are there. There will be testing at Manston and at multiple other locations. If you test positive using the swift lateral flow test, you’ll then be offered a PCR test, so you can get an even more refined outcome.

‘If you test positive again, you will then be offered Covid-secure hotel accommodation, and we’ve procured the first one of those not so far away.

‘So the HGV drivers will be able to drive there, leave their lorry there, and self-isolate for the next ten days before they’re able to cross the Channel successfully.’

The Communities Secretary said as of 7pm on Tuesday night there were just under 3,000 lorries at the disused airfield site at Manston, Kent.

Between 7-800 were part of Operation Stack on the M20, he said but ‘other HGVs and smaller vehicles are parked elsewhere in Kent’.

‘Whatever the number is, whether it is 4,000 or more, it is a significant number to work through,’ he acknowledged as he advised hauliers not to travel to Kent.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) said the testing regime ‘still means we will have delays at the border’. 

The RHA estimates between 8,000 and 10,000 delayed lorries are now in Kent and its surrounding areas, in truck stops and at depots waiting for borders to reopen and to cross the Channel. 

Chief executive Richard Burnett said: ‘It’s hats off to the Secretary of State for Transport for making this happen sooner than originally anticipated. 

‘However, I fear that the thousands of truckers stranded in Kent aren’t out of the woods yet. The massive backlog of vehicles will take time to clear and hundreds of drivers run the risk or not getting home in time for Christmas’.

The RHA added that on-site staff at Manston are providing tests to hauliers to be self-administered in their cabs under supervision. 

The result will be communicated to the driver via text message or email, identifying them via their number plate.

The French Government will also carry out sample testing on incoming freight to the UK. 

It is expected the Department for Transport will set out the full details of the testing programme on Wednesday.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘We have managed to get all those tests to Kent, enough for all the vehicles which will want to return before Christmas, so that won’t be an issue.

‘Obviously there’s a physical issue of providing the test, getting the results. A negative test allows you to leave.

‘But all of that requires operationalising and that can’t happen in an instant, so this will take two or three days for things to be cleared.’

France and the UK had previously been at loggerheads over which type of test would be required to allow trucks back on the road, with the travel ban imposed in response to fears about the spread of the more infectious coronavirus strain, which is spreading rapidly in the UK.

Mr Macron demanded the gold-standard PCR tests are used, which are more expensive, lab-based tests that can take up to 72 hours to process. 

The UK, on the other hand, had wanted to use the faster lateral flow tests which can provide results within an hour – even though these are considered less effective unless administered by a nurse and were even dubbed effectively useless. 

In a statement, the French foreign affairs ministry said that from midnight there would be a ‘limited resumption of the movement of people from the United Kingdom to France subject to negative health tests sensitive to the variant’.

It added that a negative test result, taken less than 72 hours before the journey, is required and this can be either a PCR or lateral flow test sensitive to the new variant, though a Department for Transport statement only mentions the quick tests. 

Those who can make journeys include French and EU residents, British or third-party nationals who normally live in France or the EU, as well as some other groups.  

The deal marks a significant breakthrough after a long period of deadlock, with Brussels having called for an end to the border blockade which has seen 4,000 more lorries park up in Kent. 

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps tweeted last night: ‘Good progress today and agreement with the French Government on borders. We will provide an update on hauliers later this evening, but hauliers must still NOT travel to Kent this evening.’

French transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari added: ‘French nationals, residents and those with a legitimate reason to be here must provide a negative test.’ 

Eurotunnel said only pre-booked passengers who had already tested negative should go to its terminal.

‘From 23:00hrs on 22/12/2020, to travel to France passengers will need: – A negative result from a Covid-19 test accepted by the French Government – Taken in the last 72 hours – An email or SMS certificate issued by the testing facility.

‘Please ensure you meet the French Government’s criteria before travelling to our terminal.

‘There is no Covid-19 testing facility at Eurotunnel. Go to our website to book or amend tickets. PLEASE DO NOT ARRIVE WITHOUT A BOOKING AS WE ARE FULLY BOOKED.’

It comes amid reports that the British military is preparing to test up to 6,000 hauliers a day with the controversial lateral flow test.

The EU has urged European countries to drop all travel bans imposed on the UK, including on the movement of freight, as a growing number of trucks now fill the motorway and side streets near Dover.

The bloc’s recommendation suggested rapid tests should be used to avoid disruption to cargo flows. 

The European Commission also published guidance at lunchtime recommending all non-essential travel to and from the UK should be ‘discouraged’ because of the risk posed by a new mutant strain of coronavirus which spreads quicker than its predecessor. 

But it added: ‘Flight and train bans should be discontinued given the need to ensure essential travel and avoid supply chain disruptions.’ 

On the specific issue of UK lorry drivers being allowed back onto the continent, Brussels said that where a member state requires them to take a coronavirus test before being allowed in – something France has pushed for – the process ‘should not lead to transport disruptions’.  

There has been a furious behind-the-scenes row over the issue of testing lorry drivers with France and Britain both arguing for different methods of testing.  

Operation Moonshot, Number 10’s ambitious plan to use the rapid kits to test million of people, came under fire from top scientists yesterday, with the Department of Health admitting they miss around a half of infections.

Furthermore, damning evidence now shows they may be effectively useless when self-administered, despite Downing Street’s current testing scheme relying on people taking their own swabs.   

Hundreds of soldiers will be deployed to the former Manston airfield, according to the Times, where they will use the 20-minute lateral flow tests on drivers, with those returning positive results told to isolate in hotels.

Even despite tonight’s breakthrough, the scale of the backlog on both sides of the Channel means disruption at the ports is expected to last until at least Christmas Eve, with supermarkets warning of potential shortages of fruit and vegetables unless solutions are sped up.  

Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister, has accused the Government of ‘dither and delay’ over its handling of the situation in Kent.

‘It is now over 48 hours since this situation began and there is no clear update from the Government – even to Kent County Council – on exactly how they are dealing with this,’ she said.

‘Once again, our communities, local businesses and restaurants are having to step up to the plate to feed lorry drivers who are stranded and exhausted.

‘All this while businesses exporting British produce are halted and put under even more strain by the chaos.

‘We really don’t need any more dither and delay from this Government.’

Elizabeth de Jong, policy director at business group Logistics UK, has said it is ‘vital’ that testing procedures are ‘stood up fast to ensure drivers can be processed and get home for Christmas safely’.

She added: ‘The backlog of traffic across the region will take time to clear so hauliers should wait for further news before travelling to Kent.’

The desperate delivery drivers trapped in Dover tonight told how they faced a last gasp dash to be home for Christmas.

Marian and Diana Furduna and their nine-year-old daughter Julia have been in the UK since last Thursday having travelled from the city of Focsani in eastern Romania.

They were delivering Romanian wine, salami and cheese to restaurants and private customers in London and Manchester and had due to return home on Sunday laden with Christmas parcels full of sweets and toys.

However because French authorities closed their border with the UK that afternoon due to the emergence of a particularly contagious strain of Coronavirus, the family were left stranded and had to book a B&B in Stratford, East London.

Tonight they joined the two-mile tailback of lorries and vans lining up outside the port of Dover in Kent as French authorities finally announced they would open the border back up tomorrow morning.

They three of them are preparing to sleep in their cramped van in the hope of making the 30-hour journey home to Romania, via Calais, for Christmas.

Marian, 40, told MailOnline: ‘If we leave in good time tomorrow we may make it home in time for Christmas Day. It would be a Christmas miracle.

‘We regularly travel between Romania and UK delivering food and we should have been travelling back through France last Sunday afternoon.

‘But because it’s the festive season we were making more pick ups and didn’t get to Dover until the evening by which point the French had shut their border.

‘We went back to London and have stayed in a B&B since the weekend. We heard earlier today (Tuesday) that the French may start letting people back through so came back here to Dover but we are stuck in a traffic jam that hasn’t moved for an hour.

‘Luckily it’s not too cold but all three of us are going to sleep in the back of the van tonight among all the parcels.

‘We took Julia with us this time because we wanted to show her London. I’ve told her that Santa will still find her even if she’s in transit on the way back to Romania.

‘It’s a bad situation but we have to make the best of it.’

Rail, air and sea services will resume tomorrow morning between Britain and France with all those travelling required to show proof of a negative Coronavirus test taken within the previous 72 hours.

All drivers, irrespective of nationality, will require a lateral flow test which detects the new strain of Covid-19 and provides results in around 30 minutes, rather than the 24 hours required after a PCR test.

Three testing sites are understood to be setting up in Dover, a site just off the A20 outside the town and a former airfield in nearby Manston, Kent.

Lorry driver Patrick Martzak, 27, arrived in Britain on Sunday to pick up some furniture to take back to his Depot in the Polish city of Turek.

He said: ‘I’ve spent the last 40-hours living in my cab – no toilet, no where to get washed. Luckily I have some spare clothes.

‘I was hoping to spend Christmas with my family in Poland – not stuck in a lorry park in Dover.

‘We are being told that there are going to be three covid testing sites in and around Dover but how are they going to test everyone?

‘It’s going to be really tight – I’ve told my family that I may not be home.’

A cacophony of horns rang out through Dover late into the evening tonight as drivers grew weary of trying to get back home.

Some climbed out of their cabs to smoke and chat with friends on the busy A20 carriageway as police kept an eye on the huge stationary traffic jam.

David Wobe and Patrick Koluch were due to travel back to Katowice in Poland on Sunday but have been stuck in Dover ever since.

David, 24, had delivered hospital equipment to a site in Dartford, Kent and said that he had already taken a covid test in his homeland which had proven negative.

But he said: ‘The French are not going to accept this, I’ve been told, I’m going to have to have another test done and it may cost anything up to £200.

‘I know they have fears over this new strain of coronavirus but they are being too over the top I think.

‘I am here with seven other truck drivers and we all just want to go home and spend Christmas with our families.’

His colleague Patrick, 26, who had delivered car parts from Slovakia to the Jaguar car plant in the West Midlands, added: ‘I think everyone has had enough – it’s been a farcical situation.

‘Had I known that we’d have to stay here for this long – spending two days living in my lorry cab – I wouldn’t have made the journey.

‘As long as we get through France in good time tomorrow we should make it back home in time for Christmas.

‘It’s going to be a mad dash but I hope to spend it with my parents and family in Katowice. That would be the best gift!’

It comes as business chiefs and haulage bosses said they believed ‘there are about 4,000 food and drink lorries on their way to Dover’ and that the total backlog of vehicles waiting to make the crossing to the continent will be ‘probably nearer 6 or 7,000 by the end of today’.

The decision by France to impose a travel ban prompted anger in Downing Street, with some in Number 10 of the belief that Paris is using the border crisis to try to force Britain to cave in during Brexit trade talks. 

But Mr Macron is facing a massive backlash as trapped French drivers accused him of ‘abandoning them in a foreign country’. 

France announced the travel ban on arrivals from the UK on Sunday night after the identification of a new Covid-19 strain in the south east of England. 

Huge numbers of lorries are now backed up in Kent, unable to make the crossing, leaving drivers spending a second night sleeping in their cabs. 

The scale of the crisis was illustrated by aerial photographs showing hundreds of lorries parked at the disused Manston Airfield which was set aside by the Government as part of its no deal Brexit contingency plans. 

It boasts the 11th-longest civilian runway in the UK at more than 9,000ft, meaning it is nearly two miles long. 

The 48 hour closure is due to end at 11pm UK time tonight but France was not alone in imposing restriction on the UK, with more than 40 countries having banned flights. 

The decision by France to ban freight, as well as passenger travel, caught Number 10 off guard with some officials and ministers of the view that Mr Macron is trying to use the situation as leverage in Brexit talks. A transport industry source told The Times that Downing Street was ‘incandescent’ when the ban was announced.

Critics believe the UK would be unable to cope with the double hit of coronavirus chaos and a no deal split from the EU on December 31. 

One Tory MP told MailOnline that ‘Macron has been so bombastic over Brexit and fisheries over the last few weeks one must conclude it is a shot across the bows of the UK’.  

The row over the travel ban came as Britain and the EU appeared to be inching closer to a breakthrough on the crunch issue of fishing rights in trade talks, amid rising optimism that the two sides could still strike a deal in the coming days. 

Meanwhile, ministers are said to be preparing plans to crash any deal through the House of Commons and the Lords in a single day next week, with December 30 viewed as the most likely option.  

The latest developments in the Dover crisis came as: 

• Retail industry boss warns lorry jams must be cleared to avoid fresh fruit and veg shortage at New Year
• SAGE expert warns of a ‘human disaster’ unless there is a full New Year lockdown with variant everywhere
• The threat to the vaccine rollout and routine operations grows as Covid-19 admissions across the UK surge
• UK economy bounced back by 16 per cent between July and September but national debt highest for 60 years
• Extremely vulnerable living in Tier Four areas are urged not to go to work even if they can’t work from home  
• PM refuses to rule out keeping schools closed indefinitely – will reopen classrooms ‘if we can’ after Christmas

Furious French drivers stuck in Dover have hit out at Mr Macron over the travel ban with apple grower Marie Noelle saying: ‘Macron, merde! Let me come home. I am French but this is all our fault. It is definitely political to do with Brexit and the fishing.’ 

Vanessa Ibarlucea, of France’s National Federation of Road Transport, hit out at Mr Macron’s preference for a PCR coronavirus test for people trying to get to the country. 

She said: ‘It takes 48 hours to get an appointment and another 48 hours to get the results of a PCR test. 

‘So our drivers will not be home with their families in time for December 24. Our drivers have been abandoned in a foreign country.’

The port chaos is just one of the coronavirus-related issues facing Britain, with one of the Government’s scientific advisers warning of the looming threat of a full New Year lockdown in England.

Professor Robert West, who sits on SAGE’s behaviour science panel, said the Government’s current methods were unlikely to contain the spread of Covid-19. He argued the UK needed to bolster social distancing rules and build a test, travel, isolate and support programme similar to ones seen in East Asia.

Home Secretary Priti Patel also hinted schools could be shut throughout January as Britain grapples with the new strain of coronavirus.  

Ian Wright, the chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, told the Business Select Committee this afternoon that the chaos was a problem of the Government’s own making and that ministers should pay compensation to affected firms. 

He said: ‘Much of this should have been avoided. The Government was well aware of the power of the announcement it made on Saturday night, indeed Chris Whitty went out of his way probably rightly to scare the population about the impact of the second variant of Covid.

‘But the point is everybody who listened to that will have known that everybody else in Europe was also going to be scared.’ 

He added: ‘It really is incumbent on the Government to come forward and be prepared I think to compensate those who have lost out because of that failure of authority.’

Mr Wright said his estimates suggest ‘there are about 4,000 food and drink lorries on their way to Dover at various points’ and when the blockade is finally ended there will be ‘over 4,000’ lorries which will have to be cleared.   

Duncan Buchanan from the Road Haulage Association told the same committee that he believes ‘at least 4,000’ lorries will be stuck in the UK because of the border ban by the end of the day and that the total backlog could ultimately rise to ‘probably nearer 6-7,000’. 

He said: ‘You have got to remember that what comes in is going to want to go out. So we have whatever the numbers that are being reported by EuroTunnel and by the Port of Dover or the ferry companies at the moment, all of those lorries are going to go out again and we have got two full days of complete stop.

‘So it is going to be probably nearer 6 or 7,000 by the end of today that are going to be the direct backlog going back out.’

Mr Buchanan warned the disruption will have lasting implications for supply chains, telling MPs: ‘Normally when we have supply chain disruption it is a particular port or it is a weather event.

‘This is of a different order of magnitude and in the context of Brexit and what is coming from January 1 this is the start of a very, very serious supply chain disruption of the like that we probably have never experienced.’   

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium (BRC), told the committee: ‘The real issue we face is what happens in the next day or so.

‘If we do not see the empty trucks, which have already delivered warehouses and stores, getting back over the channel, they will not be able to pick up the next consignment of fresh fruit, vegetables, salad vegetables, all the food we do not grow in the country at this time of year.

‘What we’ve been told by members is that unless those trucks can start travelling again and go back to Spain and Portugal and other parts of Europe, we will [see] problems with fresh produce from December 27.

‘What we need is for those trucks to move in the next 24 hours if we are to avoid seeing problems on our shelves.’

Photographs of Dover revealed the extend of the chaos caused by the French travel ban, with one showing row upon row of lorries parked at Manston Airport, a disused facility which has been designated as a lorry park in the event of a no deal Brexit.  

Home Secretary Priti Patel said this morning that there were 650 lorries on the M20, and 873 at Manston. 

She said the Government was ‘working to get a resolution’ as talks continued with France on reopening full trade and transport across the Channel.

She told Sky News: ‘We’re working to get a resolution, I think that’s really important to put this into context.

‘It’s in both our interests, both countries to ensure that we have flow and of course there are European hauliers right now who want to be going home and quite frankly it’s in both our interests to carry on those discussions and negotiations and we will see what materialises today.’ 

Discussing the issue of testing, she said: ‘Discussions about the type of testing will take place between the transport secretaries, both here and in Paris so I can’t speculate on the type of testing that will be used.

‘But it is quite clear, I mean we ask passengers to take tests before they get on planes, it is quite clear now that mass testing and testing is the way forward so we will find proactive and productive ways in which if we have to introduce testing to make sure that happens and I think that will provide assurance and security all around.’   

Among those stuck in the queues at Dover was French apple grower Ms Noelle, 63, who said she was desperate to return home to Tours for her mother’s funeral. Paulette Poujet died aged 87 on Saturday after an aggressive four month battle with severe Alzheimers.

Ms Noelle said: ‘The funeral is at 2pm on Wednesday. I simply must be there. I want to go through first but I know every person wants the same.

‘But we have a seven hour journey from Calais and it does not look like we will move soon. This makes me so sad. I cannot stop crying.

‘Look at this situation with all these people waiting. It is not normal. I am French but this is all our fault.

‘It is definitely political to do with Brexit and the fishing.’

She drove down to Dover with British friend Isabel Cordeiro, 60, who she had been visiting in Hackney, east London.

They arrived at 6am on Sunday morning and have been eating sandwiches and using petrol station toilets. No one has been to check on them apart from a kind woman from a neighbouring home who offered them coffee.

Retired social worker Ms Cordeiro usually spends Christmas with her brother and his family but now fears she will miss out on the festivities.

She said: ‘It looks like I will miss my Christmas which is a shame. It does make me upset but what my friend is missing is far more important. It puts it into perspective.

‘In France they have a Covid policy where burial must take place five days after death so this is a matter of urgency. Sadly I don’t think my friend will be able to see her mum be put to rest. She is devastated.

‘So I am here to support her. At least we can say we tried all we can. But this is outrageous. This is politics. It has to be as this mutation of the virus will still be around after 48 hours – it will not go away.

‘They take us for idiots and put pressure on us so I hope Boris stands up for himself. This year has been so hard for everybody and now this is like the cherry on the cake.’

It comes amid a row between Britain and France over how to open the border.

Testing is the preferred option but there is a disconnect between the two parties on the form this will take.    

France favours the slower PCR tests which can take up to three days to return with a result and can cost more than £180. 

Paris also wants the testing to be carried out before an individual arrives on French soil, demanding some kind of certificate is presented upon arrival. 

This would put the cost of the programme on the UK and, with the inherent delay that comes with PCR tests, mean that delays at the border could last past Christmas, confining drivers to their lorries over the festive period.  

The UK, on the other hand, wants to use a rapid lateral flow test which can return a positive or negative result within 15 minutes. 

They are less accurate but, as well as the speed, can cost far less per test as they do not need to be lab processed.  

However, even if this quicker method is used, the testing programme is expected to cause logistical chaos with potentially 6,000 drivers a day needing to be screened. 

Around two thirds of these drivers use the port of Dover and a third the Eurotunnel.  

The row has left lorry drivers worrying about missing Christmas with their families. One French lorry driver currently stuck in Dover said: ‘We known nothing, we don’t know if we can get home to see our families for Christmas.’ 

Highways England warned the chaos around the Kent port could last for days. Hundreds of lorries are currently waiting to cross the English Channel when it reopens.

The highways authority has urged hauliers not to drive to the border. Traffic measures Operation Stack and Operation Brock have been activated in a bid to calm the chaos.    

Highways England yesterday estimated the total number of lorries to be almost 1,000 on the M20 alone. 

Lorry drivers waiting to cross the Channel have been offered just a single cereal bar each, according to a trade association.

Rod McKenzie, managing director of the Road Haulage Association, told BBC Breakfast: ‘Clearly those drivers have spent a second night parked up somewhere, possibly on a motorway, possibly somewhere else, trying to get across the Channel, and many of them are European drivers trying to get home for Christmas, and their morale is very poor.

‘Yesterday Kent County Council offered each of them one cereal bar, which is a pretty poor effort, I think in terms of maintaining their morale, and their spirits.’

Mr McKenzie said toilet facilities were also a ‘big issue’ with concerns over health and cleanliness.

He added: ‘We are not treating them well as a country, we are not treating lorry drivers well in these very difficult conditions that they are in at the moment.’ 

The British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents more than 170 major retailers including the big supermarkets, said while supplies were plentiful for Christmas there could be problems in store shortly after.

It said fresh produce such as salad, vegetables and fruit including raspberries and strawberries could be in short supply.

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Just to be clear, there’s certainly not a problem for Christmas.

‘There’s plenty of food in the supply chain and in the stores at the moment, so nobody needs to be worried about food for Christmas dinners – there’s plenty of food for everybody and we can all shop normally.’

But he warned there could be issues after Christmas, saying: ‘There is a problem potentially directly after Christmas and that is really in fresh produce, so we’re talking here about things like salad, vegetables, fresh fruit, of which the vast majority come from Europe at this time. 

‘Our view is as long as it can be cleared up today, there’ll be minimal impact for consumers.

‘Remember the shops are shut on Christmas Day, which takes one day of buying out of the equation, but those lorries that are stuck in Kent, they do need to get back within the next day.’ 

It comes after the Prime Minister blustered his way through a pointless press conference last night, where he was unable to answer most of the questions put to him about the French travel ban. 

He also made a personal appeal for the French President to lift the ban. 

But as an agreement failed to materialise, the Government is said to be working on increasing testing capacity in Kent should Macron refuse back down.

A Government source told The Telegraph: ‘Testing is time-consuming and sets a precedent for post-transition. We are trying to avoid it, but we are doing the work to get testing capacity and the infrastructure down to Kent in case we need it.’ 

Last night Labour said any spare testing capacity should be used to help end the chaos at Dover. Shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster Rachel Reeves insisted ministers needed to stop ‘dithering’ and take decisive action to deal with the ‘chaos’ at the UK border. 

Ms Reeves insisted the Government should urgently direct mobile testing centres and spare testing capacity to ports. 

The shadow cabinet member said that Government figures show unused testing capacity is around 300,000 tests per day.

And that over December on average, it only used 50 per cent of its testing capacity.

Ms Reeves said that with some 6,000 freight drivers passing through the border per day, ‘the UK’s capacity is more than enough to have daily tests at ports’. 

The Department of Transport could not shed any light on the situation, saying it could not comment on whether testing would be rolled-out until a deal with France had been reached. 

But Jean Marc Puissesseau, president of the Port of Calais, backed plans for testing. He told BBC Radio 4: ‘I think something should happen with this test, which should be put in force as soon as possible so they can come back. But in Calais it is very quiet.’ 

Frustrated drivers have spoken about being stuck over the festive period.  

Long-distance lorry driver Geoff Moxham could be about to miss his first Christmas at home in 45 years after France closed its borders with Britain.

The Cheltenham grandfather did not realise he was on the last ferry out of Dover until he started talking to a French member of staff who asked him how he was planning to get home.

Now instead of putting his feet up on Christmas Eve the father of four faces being stuck at the side of the road with thousands of other drivers or driving down the motorway home.

‘I was 66 yesterday and spent my birthday on the road and I’m not planning to do the same at Christmas,’ he said.

‘I haven’t missed a Christmas at home for 45 years so I will be there even if I have to get a boat.’

HGV driver Frank could have officially retired on his 66th birthday on Sunday.

Instead he was delivering heavy machinery to Germany for Charles Russell Transport in Deerhurst and drove on to the ferry to Calais at around 6pm on Sunday.

‘I was on the last ferry leaving the UK but i didn’t know until one of the French crew members I know wished me luck getting home,’ he explained.

‘When I asked what he meant he said they were all finishing work and there would be no more transport back to the UK. I was completely taken aback.

‘I couldn’t believe it. There weren’t any announcements and nobody had said anything until then.’

After reading about the new global lockdown Geoff said he was surprised nobody stopped him at the borders as he drove through the night to reach Germany via Belgium and Holland.

Now he has to pick up some heavy machinery in Hanover before heading home and fears that a backlog of queueing traffic will mean long tailbacks at the border.

However decades of experience have taught him ways of getting home so he is hoping to make it.

‘I’ve been married for 44 years and have four daughters and 12 grandchildren so we normally have big family Christmases,’ he said.

‘I don’t know what happening this year but my wife just called and asked if I can pick up some fresh vegetables on the way back.

‘She’s a fantastic cook and is worried that there will be no fresh fruit and veg and when she goes to Tesco later today.’ 

Last night there were 920 lorries parked on the M20, with Operation Brock closing the carriageway for miles. Nearby lorry parks in Kent are also filling up.

France yesterday indicated it will open up to lorries from Britain again, but demanded drivers register a negative test.   

Mr Macron confirmed authorities could demand ‘PCR tests are presented as being negative upon the arrival on (French) territory.’

A PCR test can take two to three days to come back, suggesting drivers would be required to get tested in the UK before they leave for France. 

It would also mean that people trying to get to France from Britain would need to present some form of certificate to get into the country. It is unclear what will happen if someone arrives at the border without proof of a negative test. 

The Road Haulage Association said it was ‘anyone’s guess,’ how a programme of testing at the border could be rolled out.

Paul Mummery, spokesman for the RHA told MailOnline: ‘Until we can understand what that process looks like, it’s difficult to gauge whether freight can start running again.

‘This is something they will want to do very, very quickly, but what that looks like is anyone’s guess.’ 

Ronald Schroeder, 52, from Hamburg, Germany, who was turned back from Dover on Sunday night, said the ‘social situation’ for drivers is worsening due to a lack of toilet and washing facilities.

He said: ‘I am now staying in a hotel, but in front of the hotel there are thousands of people without any rooms waiting to come over the Channel crossing.

‘I feel a little bit like Robinson Crusoe on an island.’

He went on: ‘The problems of the drivers who are not already in hotels is huge – in my hotel three buses are renting just one room to have a toilet and a shower.

‘They say in the buses, the motor is running, the social situation becomes more and more worse every hour.

‘The public toilets should be open here right now, there should be someone to hand tea or coffee to the drivers, there should be more help for all the people who have been stranded.’

He added: ‘Myself, I am in a warm hotel, I have enough food for the next two weeks, but I see a lot of people who have big problems staying more than one night.

‘People are already staying a second night in their car, it’s just not a life. I ask the British Government to please help, and help immediately.

‘I do not see there is much help from the Government, the British Government or the Belgium government, which just says wait, and how long it should be is the question.’

Mr Schroeder said he has resigned himself to not getting home to be with his family on Christmas Day.

‘I already know that for me Christmas is gone, I have already stopped the hope of Christmas, hopefully I can be back for New Year, but I have lost the hope this Christmas to be at home with my children and my wife.’

Greg Mazurek, 36, and Simon Kopanearz, 30, had been stuck near the front of the queue outside the Port since 1pm on Monday.

They had delivered vital respirators to a medical centre in Hemel Hempstead earlier that morning to help fight the Covid outbreak sweeping the nation.

The Polish truckers now face Christmas in the cabin after their expected three day trip was brought to a halt.

Mr Mazurek said: ‘We have just made a very, very important delivery and this is how we are repaid.

‘That is the cruellest thing about it all. I just want to go back home to Poznan. No stopping. Just take me back.

‘I have my family waiting at home for Christmas. My wife and young children will be so upset if I do not make it in time.

‘At this rate, I think we might miss out as it is 15 hours back to Poland even after getting to France.

‘There are hundreds of vans and lorries here with many more on the roads and at Manston Airport. Even if they make a decision, I have no idea how they will release the queues.

‘The information on Sunday evening just three hours before closing is scandalous. It is difficult to describe the people who made that decision.

‘I never would have come to the UK if I was given that time to prepare. Now I have spent two nights in traffic.

‘No one has come to see us with food or anything. We have storage for three days but now we are having to go to the shops for food and water.

‘The bigger problem is the toilets in the city centre as there is a lot of drivers having to use them.

‘It is not a pretty sight.’

Trucker Elvis Abdulcair, 43, has a shipment full of Christmas cards and presents posted from England to Romania in his van.

He fears they will not be delivered in time for the big day on December 25.

Mr Abdulcair, who is driving with colleague Daniel Dragomir, also 43, said: ‘I feel like Santa Claus with no reindeers. My sleigh is grounded.

‘It is very bad because all these people will not have their cards and presents from their family in time for Christmas.

‘The French government is s***. They have ruined it for everyone. And for what?

‘I have been here two days now and don’t know how much longer it will go on for.

‘I just want to go home.’

Driver Raicu Alexandru, 25, was trapped bringing a minivan of 10 Romanian nationals who had been working at a British chicken farm home for Christmas.

He said: ‘We are very angry. It has been 24 hours on the side of the road now and we still need to go through France, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Czech Republic to get home.

‘Its over 2,000 kilometres and will take more than 24 hours.

‘And we still do not know how long we will be here. No one has told us anything.

‘If we cross tonight then we could get back before Christmas but it does not look good.

‘We have been given no food or water. None of us are from here and have no idea where to buy food or go to the toilet.

‘We have a few supplies but are running low so need to find a market. It’s worrying.’

The PM and the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps claimed the crisis showed the UK is ready for a no trade deal Brexit on December 31 should Britain and Brussels be unable to strike an accord in the coming days. 

It is thought the disruption caused by France’s travel ban could last until Christmas Eve, with Mr Macron insisting that lorry drivers will have to present proof they have tested negative for coronavirus before they are allowed into the country. 

The ban forced Dover to close to all freight vehicles leaving the UK for 48 hours, plunging the port into chaos with 23 mile long queues as panic-buying broke out in some parts of Britain amid fears of a shortage of fresh food. Some 10,000 lorries a day travel through Dover. 

Hauliers were still allowed to come to the UK from the continent but there were fears many drivers would not travel in order to avoid being ‘marooned’ in Kent. 

Mr Johnson stressed the delays were ‘only occurring at Dover’ and they ‘only affect human-handled freight’ which represents about 20 per cent of the total arriving from or going to the European continent.    

He hinted at frustration at Mr Macron’s ban as he said the coronavirus risk posed by a single driver in a lorry is ‘really very low’. 

He said: ‘I want to stress that we in the UK fully understand the anxieties of our friends about Covid, their anxieties about the new variant, but it is also true that we believe the risks of transmission by a solitary driver sitting alone in the cab are really very low and so we hope to make progress as fast as we possibly can.’

Pushed on when UK lorry drivers will be allowed back onto the continent, Mr Johnson replied: ‘Yes, it was an excellent conversation with the French President. He stressed he was keen, I would say, to sort it out in the next few hours if we can.

‘Our teams will be working on it flat out. If we can get a result then that will be great. We will do it as fast as we can.’

The disruption at Dover comes with less than two weeks to go until the end of the ‘standstill’ post-Brexit transition period on December 31. The two sides are yet to agree a trade deal and Mr Johnson has repeatedly stressed he is willing to split from the bloc without an accord.  

Downing Street has ruled out an extension to the transition period despite growing calls to push back the talks deadline because of the chaos caused by the mutant coronavirus. Critics believe the UK’s ports will not be able to cope with the double hit of coronavirus and a disorderly divorce from Brussels. 

But Mr Johnson said: ‘It remains the case that WTO terms would be more than satisfactory for the UK and we can certainly cope with any difficulties that are thrown in our way, not that we don’t want a deal, but WTO terms would be entirely satisfactory. Prosper mightily remains an extremely good description of life after January 1 either way.’

Meanwhile, Mr Shapps said the travel ban had shown the UK is ‘ready’ should trade talks fail, telling the press conference: ‘Some of the reasons why we have not seen big problems in Kent today is actually the transition period work that has been going on for many months and years even is coming to fruition, a couple of weeks earlier than anticipated.’

He added: ‘To a large extent it has shown that we are ready.’

The French government has pledged to ‘resume movement’ as soon as possible, with the Port of Dover saying inbound lorries are now coming into the UK. 

However, the top French haulage union has stoked fears of a driver strike, with an official warning ‘no trucker wants to deliver’ to Britain because of the new strain of coronavirus. A Eurotunnel official said he did not expect British lorries to arrive in France until Christmas Eve.  

Currently, new lorry arrivals are being sent to Manston Airport, where there is space for 4,000 lorries, while around 200 other truckers have travelled to Ashford International Truckstop.

Countries including Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Ireland, as well as several non-European nations, have announced restrictions on UK travel following the outbreak of the new strain across south east England. 

The closure could have far-reaching consequences for British businesses, with Scottish fishing firms set to lose more than £6million as more than 100 lorries filled with salmon are affected.

Scottish Seafood Association chief executive Jimmy Buchan told the BBC the industry was facing a ‘disaster,’ adding: ‘For example, one relatively small company has £230,000 worth of live shellfish stuck at the border, with a further £250,000 worth ready to go.

‘Another bigger outfit has £500,000 worth at Dover, and an additional £750,000 ready for despatch, all of which are just-in-time exports for the Christmas market.’ 

The impact is also being felt among seafood businesses as well. Graham Flannigan, of Berwick Shellfish Company, in Berwick-upon-Tweed, in the north east, told BBC Radio 4: ‘This is the busiest time of the year for us. We rely on December to be the busiest and heaviest amount of exports, and we lost it. Crab, velvet crab, langoustines, all stuff that is vital for the French and Spanish markets.

‘We’ve had to bring stuff back up the A1, back up the motorways, because it is crucially perishable. It is live seafood, so we’ve got a very short span where it has got to be delivered to market.

Chris Sparshott, of Sparshott Fruiters in St Albans, also told the Today programme: ‘With fresh produce you have to got buy fresh every single day. But when you are faced with a situation where if you don’t buy today you will let down hundreds of people, which is what the situation is at the moment.

‘I’ve got 200 orders to fulfil up to Christmas Eve so far. I could easily have taken another 200 orders but I don’t want to let people down.

‘People are panic buying now, I’ve noticed people are starting to place orders for January, so they are panicking about getting produce after Christmas.’

The situation has caused havoc at Britain’s ports with John Keefe, from Eurotunnel, warning lorries wouldn’t be able to arrive in France until Christmas Eve. 

He said: ‘What we are waiting for the French to announce is what the protocol will be to restart movement in the UK to France direction.

‘We expect it will be something around testing,’ he said, speculating that it could be something akin to a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of travelling would be sufficient to cross the border. We are hoping that it’s going to be something along those lines then people will be able to start thinking about travel again from Wednesday-Thursday.’

Adding to the chaos, Vanessa Ibarlucea, spokeswoman for France’s FNTR national road haulage federation, said: ‘They [drivers] are stuck in lorry parks with no toilets – it’s becoming a catastrophe. No driver wants to deliver to the UK now, so the UK is going to see its freight supply dry up.’

Thousands of lorries that were meant to travel across the English Channel on Monday were told to stay away from Kent ports and HGVs turning up at Dover this morning were greeted with glowing signs saying ‘French borders closed’ and were turned away. 

The travel ban led to people and goods from the UK being blocked from entering France via air, sea or the Channel Tunnel with fresh food left to rot on roads and in traffic queues. 

It also led to concerns that the chaos could disrupt supplies of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine to the UK which is made in Belgium – with military aircraft set to airlift supplies if the ban lasts for longer than 48 hours. 

The ban added to several pre-existing issues already gripping the ports, including stockpiling fears over a No-Deal Brexit, increased demand for goods over Christmas and a lack of shipping containers amid the coronavirus pandemic.  

It also triggered panic-buying, with shoppers queuing at supermarkets from 5.50am this morning to stock up on essentials following the news. 

Sainsbury’s has warned of several popular items being unavailable over the coming days: ‘If nothing changes, we will start to see gaps over the coming days on lettuce, some salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruit – all of which are imported from the Continent at this time of year. We hope the UK and French governments can come to a mutually agreeable solution that prioritises the immediate passage of produce and any other food at the ports.’ 

Despite the chaos, Mr Shapps insisted yesterday that people ‘wouldn’t notice’ any supermarket shortages: ‘The absolute key is to get this resolved as soon as possible.’

‘There’s a meeting taking place actually right now in Europe about it, in order to co-ordinate approaches. It’s not really in anybody’s particular interest to not have hauliers going across, not least because they are mostly European hauliers and the goods are mostly theirs, so they will not want them perishing any more than we would want the border closed.’  

He also attempted to calm fears about the wider impact of the French decision: ‘The supply chain is pretty robust in as much as you get variations in supply all the time. For the most part, people won’t notice it.’ 

Mr Johnson faced demands to recall Parliament to address the crisis, which follows the introduction of a new Tier 4 level of lockdown on London and large parts of south-east England. 

He held talks with Ministers this afternoon as he chaired the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee amid warnings of ‘significant disruption’ around the Channel ports in Kent. 

Kent Police implemented Operation Stack to ease congestion, while the Department for Transport said the disused Manston Airport was also being prepared as another contingency measure against the anticipated level of disruption, with plans to store 4,000 stranded HGVs there. 

Last night, Highways England said it was upgrading measures to Operation Brock – which will see a temporary concrete barrier moved into the middle of the London-bound carriageway of the motorway to allow traffic to travel in both directions while lorries are held. 

India announced this morning that all flights from Britain would be suspended until December 31 and Hong Kong is also due to ban all flights from midnight. Asian nations including Japan and South Korea said they were closely monitoring the new strain.

Australia said on Monday it had detected cases of the new virulent coronavirus strain. Two travellers from the UK to Australia’s New South Wales state were found carrying the mutated variant of the virus.

French health minister Olivier Veran said on Monday that it was possible the new strain was already circulating in France, although recent tests had not detected it in the country.

‘It is entirely possible that the virus is circulating in France,’ Veran said, after his country introduced the ban on British lorries. 

Among those at the Port of Dover are 80 workers who had travelled down from the West Midlands on a coach to go home for Christmas. They are now stuck for at least next two days and have nowhere to stay, with all hotels closed. 

Mr Shapps insisted that coronavirus vaccine doses will not be affected by the travel ban, telling Sky News: ‘Most vaccine doesn’t come via what is called ‘Ro-Ro’, roll-on, roll-off, which is what we are talking about here.

‘In other words, it’s not usually accompanied by a driver, by a haulier. It comes on those containers. To put this into context, there are about 6,000 vehicles we would expect, just under in Dover today, probably 4,000 would have gone across from Dover, just under about 2,000 on the Eurotunnel.

‘But there is probably something like 32,000 units that would have been the daily total, so the vast majority – including virtually all the vaccine – actually comes via container and there are good supplies in the meantime. So this won’t have an impact on the vaccination programme.’

Mr Shapps admitted that France’s ban on freight hauliers was ‘slightly surprising’, adding: ‘Immediately as soon as the French said, perhaps slightly surprisingly that they would stop hauliers, rather than just passengers, we were in touch with a group known as the Kent Resilience Forum. They are well used to planning for exactly these kind of circumstances

‘We will be opening up Manston as a lorry park today and providing welfare for some of those drivers as well, while also being in very close contact with the French over what will happen next.

‘The Kent Dover-to-Calais Eurotunnel, what we call the short straits, is probably about 20% of goods going to and from, in and out of the country.

‘But it’s not the mainstay. Most goods actually come in and out by unaccompanied containers and those will continue to flow.’

Asked about what the shortages could be, Mr Shapps said: ‘Obviously we don’t want these links to be closed for too long, but it’s not unusual for them to be closed and disrupted.

‘In the short term it’s not a specific problem. But of course the key is to get it resolved.’

The chief executive of the Road Haulage Association (RHA), Richard Burnett, said the disruption could cause problems with ‘fresh food supply’ in the run-up to Christmas.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘With it being so close to Christmas we’re looking at 48 hours at this point in time in terms of the restrictions, we’re likely to see Operation Stack building in terms of numbers of vehicles on the UK side and that might be a deterrent for EU hauliers to want to come so close to Christmas and end up being stranded here, that’s part of the challenge that we’re facing today.’ 

Food and Drink Federation chief executive Ian Wright said last night: ‘Tonight’s suspension of accompanied freight traffic from the UK to France has the potential to cause serious disruption to UK Christmas fresh food supplies and exports of UK food and drink. 

‘Continental truckers will not want to travel here if they have a real fear of getting marooned. The Government must very urgently persuade the French government to exempt accompanied freight from its ban.’   

He told BBC Breakfast yesterday: ‘The problem is the return journey of drivers coming to the UK. If they cannot be guaranteed either that they will get out of the UK because of the congestion or that they will be able to secure a return journey full of whatever product it is, that’s going to make it much more unlikely for them to come in the first place.

‘And, over time, because the transport system requires these round trips, that will reduce the ability of us to bring food into the country after Christmas if that takes effect.

‘We need a pragmatic solution that gets drivers across the border and into the UK by whatever route in exactly the same way we had throughout the lockdown in March and in the earlier part of the year.’

Road Haulage Association (RHA) boss Richard Burnett, said the ‘fresh food supply where it’s short shelf life and there will be product on its way now, that’s where the challenge kind of comes from’ after France banned lorries carrying freight from the UK amid fears over the new mutant coronavirus strain.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘The concern that we do have though is that with it being so close to Christmas we’re looking at 48 hours at this point in time in terms of the restrictions, we’re likely to see Operation Stack building in terms of numbers of vehicles on the UK side and that might be a deterrent for EU hauliers to want to come so close to Christmas and end up being stranded here, that’s part of the challenge that we’re facing today.

‘I think what Government are looking at, at this point in time, is actually bringing forward their contingency plans that they’d got laid out for the New Year in terms of (post-Brexit) transition and potentially if we start to see a significant number of vehicles parked on the M20 then we may well actually open up some of the truck parks in Kent, possibly Manston in order to take high levels of vehicles.

‘I did have a conversation with Grant Shapps (Transport Secretary) last night and he has assured me that he’s working hard with his French counterparts to ensure this issue is resolved as quickly as possible.’

The leader of Kent County Council said a disused airport could be brought in to cope with queues of lorries coming into the county.

Speaking on Times Radio, Roger Gough said: ‘I think the Government has done what is essential, which is to seek to discourage vehicles from coming to Kent.

‘That was in fact something that we’ve been pushing on very hard in relation to the end of transition.

‘We had plans pretty well set up for coping with the 7,000 vehicles, which was what the Government called its reasonable worst-case scenario.

‘What we were concerned about was what might happen if you got to that point and the vehicles kept coming.

‘The Department for Transport, I understand, is due to bring in the use of Manston Airport, the old airport site, which would be the next stage.

‘I think that’s where we’ll be heading next in terms of managing the issue, in terms of lorries.’

The general manager of trade group Logistics UK, formerly the Freight Transport Association, has urged the public not to panic-buy following France’s freight lorry ban.

Alex Veitch said the Government needs to work with EU partners to come up with a pragmatic solution to give the French and other authorities confidence that drivers are Covid-free.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, he said: ‘This is why we are saying at the current time, please, there is no need to panic-buy, there are goods available in the shops, retailers are doing everything they can.

‘But at the same time it is serious and we do need a resolution as quickly as possible.’

Italian authorities announced the mutant strain had been detected in a traveller who recently returned to the country from the UK.

With France suspending all traffic from the UK for 48 hours, it raised fears that trade flows could be severely disrupted while passengers across Europe could be left stranded in the final run-up to Christmas. 

A No 10 spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister will chair a Cobra meeting to discuss the situation regarding international travel, in particular the steady flow of freight into and out of the UK.

‘Further meetings are happening this evening and tomorrow morning to ensure robust plans are in place.’

Dozens of articulated lorries, mainly foreign registered, drove slowly down to the port entrance sounding their horns to air their frustrations at the Covid blockade this afternoon.

The queue of trucks drove down the A2 on the edge of Dover – where trucks have been parked up for hours – and drove down the Jubilee Way flyover from the top of the white cliffs of Dover down to the roundabout in front of the port entrance before heading back up the hill.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘The French Transport Minister has said they’re hoping to establish a protocol to ensure that movement from the UK can resume as soon as possible. However we must continue to prepare for disruption in Kent.

‘To control the flow of hauliers to the continent Operation Stack has been implemented and the lorry holding facility at Manston is now ready. We remain in close contact with Kent Resilience Forum and are working with local stakeholders to manage the situation.

‘While traffic heading towards the continent has initially been low today, we must continue to urge everybody – including all hauliers – to avoid travelling to Kent ports until further notice.’

Lorry drivers stuck in queues near the Port of Dover shared their frustrations. 

They were turned away from the main entrance to the port by two staff members wearing Hi-Vis jackets shouting ‘it’s closed’.   

Haulier Matt Richards, 50, from Wolverhampton was stuck in his vehicle from 8pm after he was trapped in by other vans.

Mr Richard’s, who had a cargo full of Land Rover parts intended for the continent, said: ‘I was driving towards the Port when my phone started pinging about the closure. 

‘It’s absolutely ridiculous to make such a last minute snap decision. They should have given everyone a bit more time to prepare.

‘I pulled into the garage at 8pm when I realised I wasn’t going to get across through Port but then these other vans have blocked me in so I can’t get out.

‘I only want to get home to Wolverhampton now.’

Mr Richard’s, who delivered two £1million Covid-19 testing machines to Toulouse, France last week, was set to bring another to Italy by December 28 but now fears he won’t be able to make it.

‘I’ve been driving to Europe for 30 years and I remember getting stuck in Romania in the 1990s ahead of Christmas when there was a hard border.

‘So I do feel sorry for all these people stuck in an unknown country not knowing whether they’re going to be able to get home to see their loved ones.

‘But we should never have been in this situation in the first place if everyone had been a bit stricter with the coronavirus regulations.

‘The only thing that can contain this is a full lockdown.’

Van driver Keith Silvestre, 42, also from Wolverhampton was carrying urgent gas parts to the Continent when he found out the Port was closing.

After also being stuck at the BP garage for more than 14 hours, he said: ‘I’ve just had to abort the job entirely.

‘The government have a lot to answer for. But more so the French government.

‘I hope it’s not political but it does feel like it could be payback for something.

‘It’s like what we did to them during the first lockdown with the quarantine for incoming travellers.

‘As soon as we announced this mutant strain they’ve all panicked and made a rash decision. Its probably over there already anyway.’

A coach was parked in a live lane of the A20 outside the petrol station.

It was carrying around 40 Romanian nationals, including young children, back to their homeland for Christmas.

Passenger Alex Enusoiu, 30, was heading home after working in a Sainsbury’s in Birmingham during the pandemic.

He said: ‘We’ve been stuck for 12 hours. There is no place else for us to go.

‘We are trying to keep morale high on the bus and everyone feeling good.

‘But we do not know whether we will make it home for Christmas to see our families anymore.

‘I’m not sure what’s going to happen next and people are worried that we could be stuck here.’

Damien Doherty, 43, was waiting to collect an empty container after dropping off a crate of fish in Boulogne, France.

The trucker from Donegal, Ireland said: ‘I was literally the last lorry in the Port last night before they shut it. Thankfully I managed to get it shipped out in time as it’s a very expensive load of perishable fish. Now I’ve been stuck here ever since. My wife is worried sick I won’t be home for Christmas.

‘As it’s an empty container, I don’t think it’s a priority for me to pick it back up. But I’m hoping I’ll be out of here by 9pm tonight.

‘It’s a very strange decision for the French government to make. It definitely feels political rather than practical.’

Eric Johnson, 50, Dave King, 48, and Dean Hammond, 31, all from Birmingham, dropped off their cargo at the Port of Dover at around 10am.

They had hoped to bring the Caterpillar heavy machinery parts to Lokeren, Belgium.

But now they face a frantic dash home to enjoy Christmas with their families.

Mr King said sarcastically: ‘I’m feeling absolutely ecstatic about this. It’s just what we needed after a hard year.

‘We’ve been told we won’t be able to go over for at least two days so it’s going to be cutting it very fine to be back for Christmas.

‘It’s all politics really and seems like they’re using the virus as an excuse. If you don’t play their game, this is what you get.’

Mr Johnson said: ‘We are just waiting to find out what happens now.

‘Apparently all the laybys nearby are booked up and the truck stops are basically full too.

‘For a lot of us getting here later on, there’s nowhere else to go.

‘As long as I’m back home by 11.30am on Christmas day for my turkey lunch, I don’t care.

‘These things do unfortunately happen when you’re in logistics – it’s not often very logical.’

Mr Hammond said: ‘All we can do now is have a walk to stretch our legs and get some food. But this miserable weather makes that a chore too.

‘The fact this is tier four and everything is shut makes it even harder. There’s nowhere for us to go.

‘I just hope I’m back home in time for Christmas. I still believe we can make it in time.’

Santos Filipe, 54, brought a cargo of vegetables to England from Spain at 11am on Monday morning with the intention of returning the same afternoon.

But he now fears he may not be able to return home to native Portugal to enjoy the festivities.

He said: ‘We all feel awful that we might miss Christmas after everything this terrible year has given us.

‘I have had to turn off my emotions. I’m trying not to let it get to me.

‘They should have shut the border as soon as they heard of this new strain of the coronavirus.

‘Or they should be testing all drivers before they leave while stopping normal passengers from travelling.

‘We are key workers who have helped keep the world going throughout this pandemic and we are repaid with these rash decisions.

‘I don’t know how long this will take. They said we may get information this nmorning but we were shown papers at the border which said it would be at nleast two days.’

Remi Martysz, from Kent-based logistics firm Salvatori, said France’s decision to close the border to UK lorries would cause lots of disruption to businesses and workers.

He said: ‘It is very disruptive and will impact businesses and personal mwelfare of many involved at many different levels, not great news and definitely very bad timing.’

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urged people including hauliers to stay away from the area around the Channel ports.

‘We expect significant disruption in the area. My department is urgently working with Highways England and Kent Council on contingency measures to minimise traffic disruption in the area,’ he said. 

Earlier this month they said retailers are ‘increasing the stock of tins, toilet rolls and other longer life products so there will be sufficient supply of essential products’.

They hopes to avoid a repeat of scenes seen earlier in the pandemic, when panic buying led to empty supermarket shelves and restrictions on key items. 

Supermarkets previously limited the sale of key items such as toilet roll, and staples such as rice, flour and pasta. 

But the French travel ban will lead to shortages, the industry experts admitted. 

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was ‘imperative’ the UK Government sought an extension to the Brexit transition period.

‘The new Covid strain – and the various implications of it – means we face a profoundly serious situation, and it demands our 100 per cent attention,’ she said. ‘It would be unconscionable to compound it with Brexit.’

Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency, announced it was calling emergency talks on Monday to co-ordinate the response of the bloc’s 27 member states.

It came after the Irish government said it was imposing a 48-hour ban on flights from Britain while ferries would be restricted to freight only.

The Netherlands said it will stop flights from the UK at least until the end of the year while Belgium has imposed a 24-hour ban on flights and rail links while it assesses the situation.

Italy is prohibiting entry to the country by anyone who has been in the UK in the last 14 days and flights are banned until January 6 while Austria, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Turkey and Canada also imposed new restrictions.

Countries reacted after Mr Johnson announced on Saturday that the new variant was up to 70 per cent more transmissible than the original strain as he put London and parts of the South East and East of England into a two-week Christmas lockdown, with nearly 18 million people in a new Tier 4.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitted the new variant coronavirus was ‘out of control’ and said the new restrictions may have to remain in place for months.

Concerns about the rapid spread of the disease were underlined with the publication of the latest official figures showing there had been a further 35,928 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK as of 9am on Sunday.

Millions of people have been forced to tear up their festive plans, with Mr Johnson effectively cancelling Christmas for those in Tier 4.

In the rest of England, Christmas easing is severely curtailed, with households allowed to gather for just one day – Christmas Day itself – rather than the five days previously planned, while Scotland and Wales are also restricting Christmas ‘bubbles’ to a single day. 

And at an emergency meeting late on Sunday night, the Northern Ireland Executive agreed to reduce the five day Christmas bubbling arrangements to just one day.

Ministers also debated a temporary ban on travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland because of the new Covid variant, with further discussions expected on Monday.

Dr Yvonne Doyle, medical director at Public Health England, said: ‘This sharp and sudden increase is of serious concern.’

She said most of the new cases were concentrated in London and the South East – where the new strain is thought to have originated – although it was too soon to say if they were linked to it.

Last night the Department for Transport said Manston Airport was being prepared to to accommodate ‘up to 4000 lorries’ as a measure to ease congestion in Kent in the wake of the France travel ban and warned hauliers to avoid travel to Kent ports ‘until further notice’.

Kent Police implemented Operation Stack, when parts of the M20 are set aside to queue lorries headed for the Continent. 

It comes after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps urged hauliers to avoid travelling to Kent ports as the closure of the France-UK border is expected to trigger ‘significant disruption’. 

The French Government joined a number of other European nations in banning inbound flights from the UK in a bid to prevent the spread of a coronavirus mutation sweeping through London and the south east of England.

Mr Shapps tweeted on Monday night: ‘Following the French Government’s announcement it will not accept any passengers arriving from the UK for the next 48hrs, we’re asking the public & particularly hauliers not to travel to Kent ports or other routes to France.

‘We expect significant disruption in the area. My department is urgently working with Highways England and Kent Council on contingency measures to minimise traffic disruption in the area. We will share more details on these shortly.’

Earlier, French transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari confirmed the country was suspending all traffic from the UK from midnight for at least 48 hours.

The Port of Dover tweeted on Sunday night that its ferry terminal was ‘closed to all accompanied traffic leaving the UK until further notice due to border restrictions in France’.

On its website it said: ‘Both accompanied freight and passenger customers are asked not to travel to the Port. We understand that the restrictions will be in place for 48 hours from midnight (CET).

‘We apologise for the inconvenience and will provide an update as soon as possible.’

It added: ‘Port of Dover Cargo Terminal, Marina and other areas of the Port remain open.’

Meanwhile, Eurotunnel tweeted that its last shuttle service departing for France would leave at 9.34pm yesterday, with access to its UK site prohibited from 10pm.

Rod McKenzie, from the Road Haulage Association, told Sky News that 10,000 lorries a day crossed between Dover and Calais in France.

He added: ‘Brexit stockpiling is one thing, the Christmas rush is another thing, but the absolute hammer blow now is to close the borders for 48 hours.

‘That is a serious disruption of the all important supply chain.’

Logistics UK, formerly the Freight Transport Association, which is based in Tunbridge Wells, tweeted: ‘Logistics UK is aware of news that accompanied freight to France is being not allowed for 48 hours; we are concerned about the welfare of drivers and we are urgently seeking more information for our members.’ 

Tory Kent MP Sir Roger Gale urged No 10 and Michael Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, to ‘get a grip’ on the developing situation with the Britain-France border.

He tweeted: ‘Cross Channel travel chaos. Don’t try to blame the Transport Department. Time for Number Ten and ‘CDL’ to get a grip.’

Cold Chain Federation chief executive Shane Brennan said: ‘Whilst we face no shortages now, we do need urgent agreements between the UK and EU Governments to find a way to safely allow freight movements to continue. This has been possible at every other stage through the pandemic. An extended period of stopped movement now will cause significant problems for supply chains in January.’

The Belgian government also announced its borders with the UK will close at midnight on Sunday.

The Eurostar rail service said on its website yesterday evening that due to the French and Belgian border closures it was unable to run any trains from London to Paris, Brussels, Lille or Amsterdam on Monday or Tuesday.

Services from Amsterdam, Brussels and Lille to London would also not run on these days, but trains from Paris to London continue to operate. 

The rail company said it planned to resume all services to and from the UK on Wednesday and was awaiting further details from relevant governments on how travel restrictions will be enforced.

It comes after queues at Dover reached 20 miles last week with long traffic jams in Calais as thousands of lorries – many full of Christmas gifts and food – tried to cross the Channel amid chaos at Britain’s container ports.

Extraordinary photographs taken from above the M20 in Kent last Friday showed how vehicles were bumper-to-bumper amid claims businesses are stockpiling in case of a No Deal Brexit at the end of the month. 

And across the water in France, in Calais trucks lined dual carriageways for miles as they tried to get a ferry to Dover or the Channel Tunnel to Folkestone ahead of the busiest shopping week of the year. 

Retailers say items they ordered in August for Christmas have still not arrived in Britain because of shipping chaos caused by Covid-19 in China and problems unloading in the UK seeing containers dumped in Zeebrugge, Belgium.

UK firms are haemorrhaging £1million or more because shipments have been delayed and quadrupled in price with the cost of moving a container from Qingdao, China, to the UK now at £7,500 per load – up from £2,000.