French authorities have temporarily suspended the EU entry-exit system (EES) at the Port of Dover's Eastern Docks to alleviate severe congestion, after families faced waits of up to four and a half hours to board ferries to France. The move, implemented around 9:30 am on Saturday, saw passport control officers revert to manual passport stamping, abandoning the digital border scheme.
Gridlock at the Port
Since before dawn on Saturday, which was expected to be the busiest day of the year for UK holidaymakers departing to continental Europe, queues built up at the main departure point. The Eurotunnel terminal at Folkestone also experienced delays of up to two hours. At Dover, only 11 control points were available to process an estimated 8,000 vehicles, creating a severe bottleneck.
Since April 10, 2026, French Police aux Frontieres have been required to register passport information from all third-country nationals, including British holidaymakers, when leaving the UK. While no biometrics are taken due to the impracticality of capturing fingerprints and facial data in moving traffic, the digital registration process is significantly slower than the previous manual checks and stamping.
Article 9 Invoked
The French authorities invoked Article 9 of the EES legislation, which allows temporary suspension of the system when queues become unmanageable. Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, praised the French officers for their efforts but noted that the new procedures had slowed border processing. He explained that mitigations for severe queuing, including manual processing, had to be invoked due to extreme congestion through the town.
Bannister also highlighted that some motorists ignored travel advice to use main routes, worsening congestion. He urged travellers to follow official routes despite satellite navigation suggestions. Additionally, IT problems prevented the port from deploying a new £40 million EES facility designed to ease queues.
Looking Ahead
Bannister called for a review with the UK government and French authorities to establish a robust process for Dover ahead of the busy summer season. Meanwhile, airports across Europe are reporting passport control waits of an hour or more, and Greece has indefinitely suspended biometric registration for British visitors.
