UK Sends 800 extra troops to Kent to help clear lorry backlog

Polish lorry drivers with a makeshift Christmas tree fashioned out of empty Heineken cans, share Christmas Day food and drinks at a truck stop near Folkestone, Kent Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA

A further 800 military personnel have been sent to Kent to help thousands of lorry drivers waiting to cross into France on Christmas Day.

Some 1,100 troops have been deployed as part of the operation at the English Channel border after French Covid-19 restrictions caused severe disruption at the Port of Dover.