A lesson about thinking more than twice about seceding from any union without extreme planning for contingencies

Trucks stranded in Kent after France shuts borders to UK traffic think situation will get worse after Brexit

By Matthew Weaver @ TheGuardian.com, Dec. 21

[....] On the darkest and dankest day of the year, Daniel, from Romania, had been waiting four hours in Kent with a van full of printing cylinders from Gillingham due to be delivered to Nancy in France on Monday. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to get a ferry,” he told the Guardian. “I do this journey every week and it has been getting worse. Two or three months ago it was OK. Now it is too much waiting. Too many times it is waiting for the ferry or the train.” He added: “I think after 1 January not many people will come, because it’s so difficult. I’ve lost one day here. I don’t think I’ll come back in January. “The customs paper will make it even more difficult. At least 6,000 or 7,000 lorries come here. Imagine 6,000 or 7,000 lorries checked by customs. It takes 15 minutes for one lorry for custom papers. That’s too difficult.”

France closed its border to UK traffic soon after Boris Johnson announced a new strain of coronavirus, forcing ferries and the Channel tunnel to stop services. While freight can still enter the UK, drivers are unlikely to risk getting trapped until the border reopens. Daniel added: [....]