Dover: Operation Brock could operate for at least three years when the new port entry-exit system is introduced, warns Cllr Neil Baker, cabinet member for roads, Kent County Council. The post-Brexit biometric checks, due to be implemented in October this year, will replace the manual stamping of passports to track travellers from non-EU countries more effectively.
But it is feared their introduction will clog the cross-Channel terminals, cause massive congestion on Kent motorways and A roads. The council’s cabinet spokesman for roads, Neil Baker, made the warning to cabinet members on 4 January.
“I think that we need to ensure not only all our members are aware of what may be on the horizon in October, we need to make sure the wider public are aware,” Baker said.
“We have already been telling the government for some time the problems we will be facing as part of of this EU entry exit strategy. I don’t think we can downplay how big of an impact it could well have on Kent and over an extended period.
“I think we have got to be realistic here – we could be looking at the equivalent of three years solid of Brock being in place. We know how bad life is when Brock is in place for a day or two – imagine that infinitely worse,” he said.
