Irish truckers’ hopes for Dover plan

Irish hauliers said they hope the trial of a contingency plan for a no-deal Brexit around Dover Port will help the industry in Britain and Ireland spur support for a deal before March.

The UK’s transport ministry said it tested the disused Manston airfield in Kent as a holding facility for lorries and on local roads in the event of disruption at the new EU border.

Aidan Flynn, general manager at the Freight Transport Association Ireland, said the truckers welcomed the preparations but said the trial involving 87 trucks was unrealistic and didn’t represent the potential chaos a no-deal exit for Britain in March would entail for all Irish and European truckers in Kent.

Nonetheless, the exercise would rove to be politically useful if it were to alert local people to the potential disruption, he said.

The UK plan involves putting hundreds of trucks in a holding pattern and using an airport up the M26 and M20 motorways from Dover to prevent full-scale disruption at the port.

Mr Flynn said the trial used only 97 trucks when 150 had been planned, at a time of year when the roads were relatively empty. “While it is welcome that they are trialling this, it is very late in the day,” he said.

Mr Flynn said some of the ports, such as Ramsgate, that the British government plans to dredge to ease congestion at Dover would likely not work because the same roads network in the region will still become congested.

Dublin Port’s plans to have 200 truck parking spaces was welcomed but any delay to a Holyhead sailing could lead to traffic backing up to M1 motorway, said Mr Flynn.

He said it was “very disappointing” that the Government wasn’t planning similar trials in Ireland.

In the UK, some MPs criticised the Dover trial as a waste of time and money and mocked on Twitter as “a fake traffic jam... to show the EU we are ready for no deal”.

Britain’s Road Haulage Association said the trial was too little, too late and would need to be repeated to properly stress-test the management of thousands of lorries.

Additional reporting Reuters