Dover is closed to outbound traffic

Shopping today in a well stocked supermarket. Plenty of fresh fruit and veg including citrus fruit and salad veg. Obviously, something is getting through.

And then they closed the port because of the weather, with thousands of lorries still Waiting... heaven help us if this is what we have to look forward to. The garden of England will become the toilet of England.

Sadly much longer than 48hrs.

MayBee70

But measures were supposed to be in place in the event of a no deal brexit. Why weren’t these measures implemented. As why is it down to the Sikhs and Salvation Army to help these poor lorry drivers?

Maybe the EU was expected to build facilities for their people in the UK?

Nah that can’t be it..... it’s truly a mystery why the UK didn’t prepare.

I feel so sorry for the lorry drivers stuck in dreadful conditions not knowing when they will be able to get onto a ferry.
Not everyone may know but most if not all countries in Europe celebrate Christmas tomorrow, not Friday, which means their Christmas will be spent here on the side of the road.
We live in Kent and are,or were, often on the two motorways down to the coast and since brexit it’s noticeable that most lorries on the road come from Eastern Europe, so it will be a very long drive once they get to Calais.

It has to be remembered that the vast majority of British drivers that do continental journey work are now parked up back at their depots with the freight due to be delivered to European destinations still in the back of their trailers. That situation should make us all wonder what all that parked up freight is doing to British business and industry, and how many will be in dire financial stress in the new year due to this complete stoppage and loss of revenue, especially where foodstuffs are involved.

As I understand "the plan" all those out at Manson Airfield are to be tested first, then sent on to Dover and onto the ferries. The problem is that all those at the front of the Queue from the M20 and parked near the port entrance have to be told they have drive the twenty miles to Manston Airfield to be tested before they can drive back and enter the port.

Trying to explain that to someone who is very tired and fed up and does not have English as their first language is proving very difficult and causing tempers to flare.

The majority of the Army are on two weeks festive leave, UK bases and those overseas operate on a skeleton staff over Christmas and New Year.

(Obviously this does not apply to personnel deployed in war zones or peace keeping duties)

Some Army personnel have been deployed in Wales to assist the ambulance service and paramedics.

We are watching project fear becoming project reality. And those that may point out that no one could have foreseen brexit having to cope with a world pandemic should realise that governments should always plan for unforeseen circumstances. Hope for the best but plan for the worst.

I just read that the lorry drivers parked at the airfield are not allowed to use their camping stoves (fair enough, fuel etc). The nearest garage has a McDonald’s’ but they were being prevented from leaving the site.

I cannot understand why the govt have not sent in the army to provide field kitchens and facilities.

The army could set up field centres for these people at the drop of a hat.

It is a political decision by Johnson not to give assistance to those stuck in Kent.

It is born out of exactly the same attitude towards hungry children and the poor.

HMG has no control whatsoever.

With regard to the vaccine - two thirds of GPS have not received any vaccine. 50% of Hospital Trusts have received no vaccine.

The speaker has voiced alarm at the level of peerages Johnson is bestowing on his cronies, including over ruling the appointments commission who strongly advised against granting a peerage to a former Tory party co-treasurer.

Johnson has shelved plans to for rapid-turnaround coronavirus test centres across England, due to doubts over accuracy.

Johnson is being reported throughout the world as a man who attempts to lead by optimism, substituting it for hard truths and proper management and is getting a lesson into what “reclaiming sovereignty” means.

The blame for the parlous state of the country is put squarely at Johnson’s door, whose u-turn on Christmas “once more shows the yawning gulf between the prime ministers airy promises and the real world.

The vacuum between promise and reality is now being filled with anger and fear by a nation hit by horror story upon horror story.

The covid blockade will merge seamlessly with the Brexit blockade since there is no deal yet 10 days before the deadline.

If governing is about forward thinking - From having a Merry little Christmas to a hard lockdown to a looming shortage of fresh food. To providing a steady stream of vaccine and a working testing system.

Johnson has failed on every front.

But measures were supposed to be in place in the event of a no deal brexit. Why weren’t these measures implemented. As why is it down to the Sikhs and Salvation Army to help these poor lorry drivers?

Just spoken to a relative in Dover, the whole town and surrounding areas are gridlocked.

The lorry drivers have their cabs but the hundreds of van drivers do not have the same facilities.

A couple of churches have opened for toilets but not enough for the thousands of drivers.

Food is being provided by local companies and residents.

The problem now is those that are waiting the 48hrs for test results are blocking the docks from those that already have a negative result.

Terrible situation for all involved.

For all those people calling for borders to close, this is what happens to the poor people stuck when it happens.

It is thought that more than five thousand trucks are now parked up in and around the Dover area. Manston Airfield is full with three thousand eight hundred trucks and the Road Haulage Association saying the toilet, washing and food facilities at the site are totally inadequate.

It would seem that Covid Testing at the site has started but it will take many days to get through all the drivers that are waiting to leave Britain. In the meantime more trucks are arriving to join the queue on the M20 and no one seems to know how and when testing will begin with those drivers.

The News channels are reporting that everyone caught up in the situation are very tired and tempers are flaring in Dover town centre with clashes taking place with the police.

Of course, Grant Shapps and Boris Johnson were saying in their broadcast on Monday how the Dover stack plan was a great success and more of the same should be expected following full Brexit on January 1st.

So this is "Taking Back Control".
Disgusting.

Whitewavemark2

The UK is paying $37 per dose of the Moderna vaccine. The EU is paying $18 per dose. Both buyers ordered 40m doses. The EU offered the UK to join its buying consortium, but the UK turned them down. This is the team negotiating Brexit terms of trade.

It looks like there’s a simple reason for this.

From the BBC:

The UK, like the EU, has paid a considerable amount of money up front to help in the development of a number of vaccines that may or may not work, including AstraZeneca’s, so the final prices for those will be lower. However, it did not support Pfizer/BioNTech nor Moderna, so will be left with a high price tag for those vaccines.

Swings and roundabouts.

moggie57

should have shut our borders a long time ago

Don’t worry only 10 days or so to go, and our borders will be shut.

should have shut our borders a long time ago

The UK is paying $37 per dose of the Moderna vaccine. The EU is paying $18 per dose. Both buyers ordered 40m doses. The EU offered the UK to join its buying consortium, but the UK turned them down. This is the team negotiating Brexit terms of trade.

Have just seen this on Twitter

“ Increase in Covid deaths per million since Monday

UK + 1.4%
France + 7.2%
Germany + 5.6% “

interesting?

With genome testing data, countries can use the science to react proportionately and target resources. Without carrying out the tests, countries such as France really have no idea whether this new strain or any other is circulating there already. Of course this one will always be known as the UK mutation, just as the one picked up by efficient testing in South Africa will always be attributed to them. We should have moved on since the days of “Spanish” flu.

Well we shut our borders to Danish truckers after the mink outbreak (& made entire households quarantine for 14 days after someone in the household returned from Denmark) - so restrictions seem fairly typical.

Not blind panic, but I suspect there were a number of factors that informed Macrons decision.

Among them being the new variant, and the reaction to gun boat diplomacy. Only last week HMG were threatening France with gun boats.

Nezumi65

And tbh closing borders until you find out whether that horse has bolted is sensible.

Sequencing is super fast these days - they’ll soon have a better idea of the spread - until then, safety first.

It may be super fast, but doesn’t sound as if it’s going to start any time soon.

From the BBC website:

In order to know how far the variant has travelled or where it came from, you would need to compare notes with other countries - but comparable data very often does not exist, Prof Connor said. For example, Public Health Wales sequenced about 4,000 genomes in the past week, more than the whole of France since the beginning of the pandemic.

Slamming borders shut in a blind panic seems to be the way to go instead.

Summerlove, ‘embassies have access to Tesco’ was specifically in answer to one poster who asked how foreign governments were expected to get food to their nationals if the borders were closed. I was trying to give a simple answer to point out that there are representatives of foreign governments based in the UK with access to food outlets in the UK.
Sometimes it is much easier to get the point across with a simple example. I do not expect intelligent adults to take it literally.