Another 800 military personnel are sent to help test 4,000 drivers stuck in Kent on Christmas Day
Another 800 military personnel are sent to help test 4,000 drivers stuck in Kent on Christmas Day as they wait to cross The Channel – as villagers lower food parcels from bridges to those stranded on the M20
- Another 800 military personnel are sent to Kent to help Covid test 4,000 truckers still stuck on Christmas Day
- People from Mersham, near Ashford, have lowered food from bridges to truckers as many drivers stranded
- Faversham locals also gave essential items to drivers stuck at Marston airport while they wait for Covid tests
- It comes after France introduced a travel ban unless drivers have a negative test that they can show officials
Hundreds of soldiers have been sent to Kent to carry out Covid tests on stranded truckers in a bid to try and clear the backlog of lorries waiting to cross the Channel.
The French are demanding a negative Covid test from lorry drivers before they are allowed to cross the border after introducing a travel ban.
Around 800 military personnel have been sent to Kent help perform Covid tests, distrubute food and organise welfare facilities.
The additional manpower means the British military taskforce in Kent now totals 1,100 as part of the effort to clear the 4,000 lorries waiting to drive to the Continent.
A total of 30 French firefighters have also joined the effort, while Poland is sending a team of 60 territorial army soldiers.
James Heappey MP, Minister for the Armed Forces, called it a ‘fantastic international effort’ in a tweet on Christmas Eve.
Many stranded drivers are now spending Christmas stuck in their truck cabs. Pictured: The M20 this morning on Christmas Day
Around 800 military personnel have been sent to Kent help perform Covid tests, distrubute food and organise welfare facilities for the stranded truckers
The additional manpower means there are now 1,100 soliders part of the effort to clear the 4,000 lorries waiting to drive to the Continent
The French are demanding a negative Covid test from lorry drivers before they are allowed to cross the border after introducing a travel ban
Thousands wait to resume their journey across The Channel after the borders with France reopened this week, but many did not make it across the Channel in time for Christmas. On December 24, Minister for the Armed Forces James Heappey MP, tweeted that 30 French firefighters and 60 Polish soldiers would join the military taskforce
Drivers were seen on the motorway this morning coming out of their cabs to enjoy Christmas Day with other stranded drivers
British testers yesterday found just three Covid cases among more then 2,300 drivers swabbed on Christmas Eve.
It has been a fraught week in the southern county – home to Britain’s key Dover port – after an estimated 10,000 truckers were caught up in the chaos.
It comes after French president Emmanuel Macron ordered the border with the UK to shut on Saturday following the detection of a new virulent strain of coronavirus in Britain.
Thousands of hauliers were parked up at the disused Marston airport, while hundreds more lined the M20 as part of Operation Stack. All were waiting for a negative test result before they can make their way to the continent.
Kent villagers yesterday helped feed stranded truck drivers lined up along the motorway by lowering bags of food to them from bridges.
People from Mersham, near Ashford, used rope and shopping bags to deliver goods including beans, fruit and sweets to stranded lorry drivers waiting for Covid tests.
Kind-hearted volunteers from the Kent village of Faversham also delivered essential items to the truckers still stranded at Marston airport, a disused airbase that has been turned into a temporary truck park for the stranded drivers.
Kent villagers are helping feed stranded truck drivers lined up along the motorway by lowering bags of food to them from bridges. They are using rope and shopping bags to deliver goods including beans, fruit and sweets to stranded lorry drivers waiting for Covid tests
Villagers lower food from M20 bridges near Ashford to truckers stuck in Operation Stack as Domino’s deliver pizza
Hundreds of hauliers are lined on the M20 as part of Operation Stack waiting for a negative test result before they can make their way to the continent
People from Faversham are among the Kent locals who have rallied to help the stranded truck drivers who are waiting to be allowed to cross into France in order to travel home
The volunteers delivered essential items like toilet roll and water bottles. Villagers from Mersham also delivered food to drivers on the motorway by lowering parcels from the motorway bridge
Hundreds of hauliers are lined on the M20 as part of Operation Stack waiting for a negative Covid test result before they can make their way to the continent
French firefighters (pictured) armed with 10,000 testing kits have joined the effort to get thousands of stranded lorry drivers across the Channel today, with up to 6,000 lorries now stacked up in Kent
Water bottles, toilet roll and snacks were among the essntial supplies passed to the waiting drivers through the airports perimeter fence.
Mersham residents Jan and David James also walked down the carriageway between ranks of parked up trucks to hand out food.
The pair climbed over a barrier walked down a set of steps on the embankment to reach the road.
Jackie and Peter Bates have also stepped in to spread Christmas cheer among the drivers.
Mrs James, 69, a former teacher told Kent Online: ‘We went round knocking on doors in Mersham asking if people had any spare food and they have been brilliant.
‘They gave us lots of food in bags and we then took it to the bridges.
‘We have had tins of beans, orange juice, fruit, biscuits, crisps and corn beef – anything the lorry drivers could eat with their fingers but I think most of them have cutlery anyway.
‘A lot of the drivers were asking us how far away Tesco was and many of them were walking to the supermarket.
‘We ran out of food in the end but we could have gone on and on – it was just something we felt we had to do for the poor blokes.
Drivers came to accept the donations at the perimiter fence at the disused Marston airport, which has been turned into a temporary truck stop since the French border closed
These volunteers from Faversham are one of many Kent locals who rallied to give the locals a festive gift ahead of Christmas Day
British testers attempting to clear a 6,000-strong backlog of lorries queuing up to cross into France have found just three Covid cases among the 2,364 drivers swabbed so far
Thousands of truckers are still waiting to be tested for Covid before being allowed to travel into France
Drivers still stranded in Dover spelt out ‘help’ using traffic cones after days of waiting in Kent
A Sikh charity in kent prepared hot meals including curries (pictured) and pasta dishes to hand out to the desperate truckers on Tuesday and Wednesday
A group of 26 firefighters from the continent have joined the testing effort, personally administering the swabs to lorry drivers after President Emmanuel Macron demanded truckers be swabbed before being allowed to cross the Channel
Unlike the the French firefighters, the British testing teams are passing over the swabs for lorry drivers to self-administer – a method which is considered less effective
It comes as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps today announced ferries and Eurostar services between Dover and Calais will run over Christmas in a bid to end the backlog. He said last night he hoped backlog could be fixed ‘by New Year’
The drivers have been stranded on the M20 in Kent, at nearby Manston Airport (pictured) or in and around the streets of Dover after the travel ban, imposed by France after the identification of a new Covid strain in south-east England
A driver checks his COVID-19 lateral flow test at the Port of Dover, Kent, where thousands are waiting to resume their journey across The Channel after the borders with France reopened
Members of the British army help travellers to use covid-19 self-testing kits close to the entrance to the Port of Dover
The swab tests have to be administered by inserting a swab into person’s nose. French officials are carrying the tests out themselves, but UK workers are giving the tests to drivers to self-administer
Lorries queue on the M20 motorway to enter the Port of Dover following the closure of the French border on Sunday. Around 2,000 are said to be on the motorway
Wojtek Golawski, pictured, said he was going to have to spend the peak of the festive season in his lorry cab stuck on the A20 in Dover rather than with his family in Lukow in Poland
Police officers and lorry drivers congregate at the entrance to the Port of Dover last night as testing got underway
Military personnel helping to take samples from drivers parked in the Port of Dover in Kent in a bid to get them moving again
The Army has been drafted in to help this evening after as few as 200 tests an hour were carried out in Kent yesterday
One THOUSAND Dominos pizzas are delivered to stranded truckers who face Christmas alone in Kent
A group of Sikh volunteers have tried to the raise the spirits of lorry drivers stranded in Kent with a delivery of 1,000 Domino’s pizzas amid the ongoing border chaos.
Thousands of foreign drivers are likely to spend Christmas stuck in the UK as the Government has indicated queues will not move for at least another 24 hours.
Volunteers from Khalsa Aid coordinated the deliveries yesterday having already provided hundreds of chickpea curries to the stranded motorists a day earlier.
Sikh volunteers from Khalsa Aid and Domino’s Pizza workers stand outside the branch in Sittingbourne, Kent, in preparation to deliver the fresh pizzas to stranded lorry drivers
The volunteers from Maidenhead travelled over 80 miles to help out, while some of the group’s Langar Aid members journeyed more than 150 miles from Coventry.
Volunteers from the Guru Nanak Darbar temple in Gravesend cooked the meals, while staff from the Salvation Army’s South East Division were also helping to deliver food. Ramsgate Football Club was involved too, delivering 200 pizzas to the drivers.
Ravinder Singh, founder of Khalsa Aid which is based in Maidenhead, said: ‘We in Sikhism, we have the concept of langar, which means community kitchen.
‘We are British Sikhs and the least we can do is to practise our seasonal goodwill: two days from Christmas we have people on our soil who are homeward bound and do not know what is happening.’
‘When we went back up the steps onto the bridge, a whole group of them clapped us – it was quite emotional.’
Mrs James has lived in Mersham for 35 years and says residents regularly see drivers using the village as a rat-run to avoid queues on the A20.
The grandmother of five said: ‘There was a language barrier – all most of them could say was ‘very, very thank you’ but some of the French and Spanish I could pick up.
‘Many of them just smiled and put their hands together to say thank you – it was wonderful.’
Mrs James praised the community saying it was a ‘typical English village with a fantastic community spirit’.
She added: ‘The most important thing is that the drivers can get home to their families.’
The villagers actions have been part of a wider effort to feed the desperate drivers.
On the M20, Kent County Council (KCC), with the help of Kent Resilience Forum (KRF) partners and organisations including the Salvation Army, aid agency Khalsa Aid and South East Water, have provided drivers with hot food, sandwich meal bags and drinking water.
A number of food donations from South East catering companies are also being transported by Network Rail to Ashford train station and distributed by KRF partner the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
Several supermarkets and businesses, including Greggs, Lidl and the Imperial Hotel at Hythe have also made donations.
As part of KCC efforts to make sure people in the traffic management system Operation Brock are being cared for, a further 32 portable toilets have also been installed between junctions 10a and 11, adding to the portaloos provided on Monday at 1km intervals along this stretch of motorway. Toilets are being cleaned at 12-hour intervals..
While traffic queues will ease as drivers meet France’s COVID-19 testing requirements and are cleared for onward travel via either the Port of Dover or Channel tunnel, it remains important people avoid travelling to Kent while the disruption continues.
KCC Leader Roger Gough said: ‘The kindness and humanity shown by people who have rallied to provide welfare for those caught up in delays at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel is amazing.
‘I would like to thank all those who are coming forward to help, including charities, businesses, voluntary groups and, of course, our own driver welfare teams.
‘The situation should now improve steadily as drivers secure negative COVID-19 test results and are able to continue their journeys into France by ferry or freight train. I have, however, deep sympathy for those for whom this will come too late to spend Christmas with their families.
‘I would also like to thank Kent communities for their support and understanding during what has been an extremely challenging time and hope the knowledge that the disruption will continue to ease is some welcome good news.’
It came after authorities faced criticism for the treatment of the stranded drivers and the conditons at Marston airfield.
Industry bosses branded the treatment of the stranded truckers ‘a disgrace’ earlier this week.
Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association said: ‘They’re going to give drivers two litres of water every day.
‘We need to ensure that drivers have got sufficient food and water.
‘Kent County Council were giving cereal bars yesterday morning which was not enough.
He added: ‘Bearing in mind the government has been trying to prepare for transition which is in eight days time, you would’ve expected these plans to be well rehearsed.
‘It’s an absolute disgrace that they’re not well prepared at all. It’s a scenario that could’ve happened in the case of no-deal.’
Andik Jozsef (left), 47, from Csokonyavisonta in Hungary is parked more than a mile from the front of the queue at Dover. He has told wife Bernadett, 46, son Daniel (right, together), 22, and daughter Kristof, 15 that he won’t be home for Christmas
Ivo Ivic (left), 57, who is transporting chemicals used in building foam from Runcorn in Cheshire to Slovenia, had been looking forward to spending tomorrow with his grandsons Timotes, aged eight and two-year-old Lucian. He had planned a Christmas meal with wife Ankica (right), 56, son Jure, 37, and daughter Sama, 38 at home in Vrhnika, Slovenia
Lorry driver Doma Dumitru (left), 41, had been hoping to spend tomorrow with his wife Alina, 40, and their 12-year-old daughter Daria Maria (right, together) back home at Oradea in north-west Romania. He has been stuck in Dover since Monday after France closed its border with Britain following the emergence of the new highly infectious strain of coronavirus
Trucker named John Christmas admits he’s likely to spend festive season in a lay-by
Unlucky trucker John Christmas has admitted he will likely spend the festive season in his lorry parked in a lay-by.
The aptly-named Romanian driver will not make it home on Christmas Day as he cannot make it to Dover due to traffic problems.
He is currently parked at the side of Manston roundabout 18-miles from the port.
Unlucky trucker John Christmas has admitted he will likely spend the festive season in his lorry parked in a lay-by
Mr Christmas transports water from Dover to Birmingham but has been unable to get near the Port due to the traffic gridlock as thousands of other drivers try to reach France to continue home.
He told Kent Live: ‘I will spend Christmas in my trailer, whether it’s at the side of this road or in a car park in Birmingham, that’s unavoidable now.
‘I don’t need a COVID test. I have been waiting for hours but they won’t let me go.
‘All I need to do is go to Dover to drop my truck and pick up another one, but I cannot go there.
‘After that I will need to back to Birmingham and then back home to Romania.’
