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LONDON — A ban on travel from the U.K. to France will be loosened, the two countries’ governments said Tuesday.
From midnight, people crossing the border from the U.K. to France will be required to have a test to check if they are infected with COVID before they can travel, according to a statement from French Prime Minister Jean Castex.
Even then, the kinds of people allowed to travel from Britain to France will be restricted until January 6. EU citizens, EU permanent residents and other categories such as truck drivers or train operators will be permitted to cross the border, provided that they have a negative test taken during the previous 72 hours.
France, along with more than 50 countries, imposed a ban on travel from Britain Sunday after a more contagious variant of the COVID-19 virus was discovered in the U.K. Infection levels have rocketed in Britain in recent days, with Kent, the region which includes the port of Dover, one of the areas worst affected.
The ban caused days-long tailbacks of thousands of goods vehicles, jamming the M20, a major British road and a crucial artery for trade into and out of the country. This triggered plans put in place to manage Brexit disruption ahead of time and, according to industry experts, could also hamper preparations to manage anticipated hold-ups when the transition periods ends on December 31.
British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Twitter on Tuesday evening: “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.”
Laboratory test certificates, showing that a PCR test had been taken 72 hours before crossing the border, will be required to enter France from the U.K. under the new rules. The French government released a list of tests allowed, aside from the gold-standard PCR laboratory test. This is to ensure tests will be sensitive to the new variant of the virus discovered in the U.K.
The decision followed a “conversation between the European Commission and member states” and “constructive bilateral talks” between Paris and London, the statement said. The rules will remain in place “at least until January 6.”
Earlier Tuesday, the European Commission recommended the lifting of flight and train bans imposed by EU countries to prevent the spread the new coronavirus strain from the U.K. Transport workers should be freed from “any travel ban across any border and from testing and quarantine requirements,” the Commission said. If EU countries do impose coronavirus tests, they should not lead to disruptions, it added.
People who are neither a citizen of the EU or a permanent EU resident are still forbidden to travel to France from the U.K., aside from exceptions including long-term EU visa holders and workers involved in transportation of goods or people, whether by road, rail, air or sea.
However, haulage industry experts warn any test will slow traffic and cause significant trade delays. “These drivers are in a precarious situation,” Florence Berthelot, the general delegate of French road transport group FNTR, said Tuesday. Requiring a test before being allowed to cross the Channel would be “completely unacceptable” as it would mean even more delays. Germany’s BGL industry association took the same line.
Misery at the border
The two days of disruption already experienced by drivers at the border could affect some €2.2 billion in exports between the U.K. and EU, hitting €1.4 billion of EU goods and €800 million in U.K. goods, according to figures from Euler Hermes, a trade credit insurance company.
The impact on freight is larger than some political statements have suggested, experts said Tuesday. Some 4,000 trucks and additional vans were caught up in the chaos, Duncan Buchanan, policy director at the U.K.’s Road Haulage Association, told MPs.
They have been captured in striking aerial images of trucks snaking along the M20, the main artery leading to the port of Dover and linking up at Manston Airport in Kent, which is being used as a giant truck park.
There are 77 toilets at the airfield, according to a spokesperson at the Department of Transport, although there are hundreds of trucks stacking up. Drivers receive a two liter bottle of water on arrival, and there is one food van servicing them all.
Supermarket chains in the U.K. have warned that, should the disruption continue beyond midnight Tuesday, there will be shortages of some fresh foods such as citrus and broccoli. That could worsen the longer restrictions last, Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, told an emergency session of the U.K. parliament’s business, energy and industrial strategy committee.
Brexit comes early
Carrying goods across the Channel wasn’t exactly a cakewalk before the travel ban came in.
The combined impact of Christmas stockpiling and reduced ferry and train connections caused major tailbacks in northern France.
“For weeks already, truck drivers have been stuck in Calais, exposed to plight and misery,” with no access to food, toilets or showers, no regular rest, a lack of security and “huge unresolved migrant issues,” the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) said Monday. “Now the COVID-19 crisis has added a new dimension.”
With the end of Brexit transition looming on January 1, Wright of the Food and Drink Federation warned there could be worse to come. “Once there’s any kind of disruption, the system is potentially compromised,” Wright said.
“It’s just a tiny peek at what could happen either in the first few days or first few weeks of the transition period ending, and it would be compounded by tariffs and a no-deal,” Wright cautioned. “A lot of companies would have intended to stockpile in that post-Christmas period … that may now be compromised.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there is an “apparent reluctance” among foreign drivers to bring truck loads to the U.K., Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses told the British parliamentary committee. He warned the disruption will have a knock-on effect for small businesses in Kent and beyond.
Unless the EU and national governments take steps to resolve those problems, “there will be fewer and fewer drivers willing to take the routes of Britain,” the group warned.
Fears drivers could get stuck in long queues over Christmas are also convincing them to stay home: Only half of the usual number of trucks entered the U.K. from France on Monday, said Will Surman, spokesperson for industry group FoodDrinkEurope.
“One of our members told us they have 15 trucks stuck in the queue in Dover,” he added. Meanwhile they have a further 60 trucks out on the roads closing in on the ports and drivers are calling saying they won’t travel to the U.K.
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