Dover faces queues as broken EU border tech stalls rollout
Millions of pounds of automated border infrastructure sit idle due to French software failures, threatening severe travel disruption as the peak summer season begins.
Dover is bracing for significant queues this weekend after French border police were forced to manually process travellers because the new EU Entry-Exit System (EES) technology is not working. A £40m automated facility built to speed up checks at the port cannot operate due to software problems in France.
Although the French police aux frontières (PAF) will not take biometric data such as fingerprints or photographs, the manual creation of files for each non-EU visitor is expected to cause tailbacks. Around 7,500 cars are expected at the port on Friday and 10,000 on Saturday. Eurotunnel, which operates LeShuttle and has also spent millions on unused automated kiosks, said it does not anticipate similar delays.
The EES failures are already creating friction across European transport hubs. Ryanair, Europe’s largest carrier, warned this week that UK passengers had become “the testing ground for unfinished border infrastructure”. The airline flagged Lisbon, Tenerife South, Alicante, Malaga and Milan Bergamo as recurring hotspots for EES-related delays for passengers flying into the 29-country Schengen area.
The border uncertainty is actively reshaping European travel patterns, pushing British spending toward domestic tourism. Motoring organisations expect this weekend to be the busiest domestic getaway since 2022, with over 14 million drivers taking to British roads. Harriet Hernando of the RAC said: “The great British summer staycation is about to get off to a flying start, with many opting to stay in the UK instead of travelling abroad. This could be down to people having more confidence in the weather, as well as concerns over cancelled flights, higher air fares and EU border delays, which are no fun with a family in tow.”
The AA noted that one in five drivers plan a leisure journey of 100 miles or more next week. The RAC and Inrix expect the worst congestion on Friday around the M25 and M3 near London. Hernando warned drivers to prepare for breakdowns in hot weather, adding: “People should prepare for delays and getting stuck in a jam in potentially very hot weather.”
While London Heathrow expects Friday to kick off its peak season, travel association Abta notes the main foreign exodus will not happen until next weekend. Dover has urged travellers to use main roads and arrive no more than two hours before their booked sailing.
