Sorting by

×

France holidays to cost families more as result of Brexit border checks

Passengers are set to face holiday price hikes due to the cost of postponed EU border security checks, a senior Eurotunnel official has warned.

Passengers have been warned they face delays at some ports and international stations – namely Dover, the Eurotunnel and St Pancras – due to increased waiting times for registration under the new Entry/Exit System (EES) before people leave the UK.

The EES – which will see Britons travelling to Europe subjected to new fingerprint checks at UK borders – was delayed for the second time last week after EU states said the bloc’s technology to roll it out wasn’t ready.

Kent authorities had already warned that handheld tablets to process Dover passengers’ biometrics hadn’t been received or tested before the planned 10 November launch.

John Keefe, the corporate and public affairs chief for GetLink group, which owns Eurotunnel, told a parliamentary committee session that millions of pounds spent getting its terminals ready for EES would “inevitably” now be passed on to passengers.

The post-Brexit EES will replace manual stamping of passports and require non-EU nationals including Britons to provide facial scans and fingerprints when crossing to the Schengen area – which encompasses most EU countries.

But Germany’s interior ministry raised fears over the “stability and functionality” of the computer to be used by EU-Lisa, the EU agency implementing the new system, with Brussels suggesting a phased launch instead after the scheme was pushed back again.

While EES checks will be carried out at airports, ports and train stations across the country, there is particular concern about the impact at often already-congested Dover, where traffic jams of up to 14 hours have been predicted due to longer processing times for passengers.

Work is carried out on the installation of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) at the Port of Dover, in Kent. In November the EU will introduce EES, a new digital border system, at the three UK locations where French border checks are carried out before people embark on cross-Channel journeys. Travellers from the UK and other non-EU countries will have to register at the border by having their fingerprints and photograph taken. Picture date: Thursday September 26, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story TRANSPORT EES. Photo credit should read: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire
Work is carried out on the installation of the new Entry/Exit System (EES) at the Port of Dover (Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

Meanwhile, in a letter to the Justice and Home Affairs Committee, Immigration Minister Seema Malhotra said the new European Travel Information and Authorisation System (Etias) visa waiver scheme for UK citizens is also now likely to be delayed.

Cross-Channel operators and council leaders told the parliamentary committee they still did not know when EES would be launched.

Mr Keefe said his firm had spent €80 million (£67 million) to build infrastructure, technology and recruit staff in preparation for EES.

Speaking to peers Mr Keefe said: “We’ll be sitting on €80m spent to develop the technology, build the infrastructure, to do the modelling using Artificial Intelligence, to install all of the kiosks that we had specially built to operate in the vehicle environment.

“All of that will have to be put into hibernation. So that’s a cost that we will have to carry because of this

“A cost like this inevitably is passed on to the consumer.

“This delay and the introduction of EES has cost in itself €80 million, so whether it’s delayed or it’s live now, there is still a cost that is carried by the consumer.”

He also indicated that the company, which has installed more than 200 kiosks at its Folkestone terminal and in France, could take legal action against the EU to recover the money spent in anticipation of a November go-live date.

“We are considering cost recovery. We have followed the project to the letter,” Mr Keefe said.

Kevin Mills, Labour leader of Dover District Council, said there has been “no interaction at all” with the Department of Transport about Government plans to secure off-road parking to stack tourist cars if roads to the port clogged up.

He also warned of potential security issues if Border Force staff were unable to get to work if the town was in gridlock, adding going ahead with EES next month would have caused “complete and utter carnage”

“In Dover. It’s not just the A20, the whole town stops, nothing moves. When you see ambulances stuck in queues, you start to worry,” he said.

“If we don’t get this right, it will backlog. So it doesn’t matter, with respect to Eurotunnel, how much work they’ve done, if those queues keep going back it will get on to their site and then it backs up into the rest of Kent. So it has a national implication.”

An app is being prepared by the European Commission so passengers can log details before travelling, a move it’s hoped will drastically speed up traffic flow, but is not expected until at least next summer.

Mr Keefe said the app would be for subsequent travel to the EU, with those travelling to the bloc still required to go through checks at juxtaposed portals like Dover on their first journey to the bloc after EES launches.

Eurotunnel was also looking at technology that can capture facial biometrics in moving vehicles so passengers don’t have to stop at a particular location, he added.

At a press conference last week, EU interior minister, Ylva Johansson, the Commissioner for Home Affairs, said there was no new timeline for when the scheme would be launched.

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button