It’s totaly disgusting what the french are doing to freight drivers,it’s got nothing to do with COVID more to do with brexit,■■■■■■ they’ve always disliked us and to be honest the feelings mutual,this new strain has been floating around Europe since October and it will mutate many more times,having been stuck in many french disputes in the 80/90s it’s no fun sitting for days trying to get a ferry but it must be crap at Christmas even if they started services again now there’s little hope for lots of drivers not making it home,I had Christmas 2003 in a truck not by choice but a traffic office lie about getting loaded never again
you never hear on the news about folk who have found a way around the blockade because it would not fit the doom n gloom story . .Same with covid theres many who have found a workaround way to keep on working and perhaps dodge the “rules” actually non of these rules have gone thru parliament so cannot be enforced legally
Aren’t the French just exercising their sovereign right to control their own border though? 
Maybe there is an element of rubbing faces in it. Maybe thats the whole point. But I think the “we’ll put gunboats in the water” 
threats seem somewhat hollow now.
toonsy:
Aren’t the French just exercising their sovereign right to control their own border though?Maybe there is an element of rubbing faces in it. Maybe thats the whole point. But I think the “we’ll put gunboats in the water”
It’s strange the only border there exercising their sovereign right to is to the UK just coincidence?
strongbowpeter:
toonsy:
Aren’t the French just exercising their sovereign right to control their own border though?Maybe there is an element of rubbing faces in it. Maybe thats the whole point. But I think the “we’ll put gunboats in the water”
It’s strange the only border there exercising their sovereign right to is to the UK just coincidence?
But Bozo isn’t retaliating that’s more than a coincidence.
Oh dear the EU is hitting us we’ll just have to reverse Brexit.
Tories don’t change their spots.Europhile quislings.
As regards freight it is a completely needless ban the majority of drivers will not have had any contact with people in the UK and will have even less with the population of France as most come off the boat hit the motorway, turn left and are out of France in 40 minutes.
Belgium detected the new strain in November so it is safe to say it is already in Europe aided by the thousands of EE who left the UK for home in the past couple weeks.
If it is an attempt by the French to exert pressure on the UK it is a funny way of doing it there will be plenty of fresh produce around Europe currently going to waste that was destined for the UK costing those businesses money in terms of lost sales.
Back in the initial stages of this virus although France had a severe lockdown they were fairly relaxed with people coming into France from it’s land borders due to them not manning them 24 hours a day as other countries did, and this time round saying that French citizens can return when the majority of them live in and around London the worst affected area so no logic to it all.
strongbowpeter:
toonsy:
Aren’t the French just exercising their sovereign right to control their own border though?Maybe there is an element of rubbing faces in it. Maybe thats the whole point. But I think the “we’ll put gunboats in the water”
It’s strange the only border there exercising their sovereign right to is to the UK just coincidence?
Maybe, maybe not. There are another 50 or so countries globally also preventing entry from the UK though. It just happens the French one is actually quite close and quite important to us.
toonsy:
strongbowpeter:
toonsy:
Aren’t the French just exercising their sovereign right to control their own border though?Maybe there is an element of rubbing faces in it. Maybe thats the whole point. But I think the “we’ll put gunboats in the water”
It’s strange the only border there exercising their sovereign right to is to the UK just coincidence?
Maybe, maybe not. There are another 50 or so countries globally also preventing entry from the UK though. It just happens the French one is actually quite close and quite important to us.
But the rest of the ones in Europe are not preventing freight movements
Mazzer2:
toonsy:
strongbowpeter:
toonsy:
Aren’t the French just exercising their sovereign right to control their own border though?Maybe there is an element of rubbing faces in it. Maybe thats the whole point. But I think the “we’ll put gunboats in the water”
It’s strange the only border there exercising their sovereign right to is to the UK just coincidence?
Maybe, maybe not. There are another 50 or so countries globally also preventing entry from the UK though. It just happens the French one is actually quite close and quite important to us.
But the rest of the ones in Europe are not preventing freight movements
True. But its their border and they can control it as they wish.
Look im not daft enough to think there’s not at least some politics involved here. I just find it amusing that we’ve left the EU partially to take back control of our borders, which is fine, but when a country within the EU takes control of its border its not fine.
GasGas:
On a brighter, but related note…
Good on those Sikh guys for feeding these lads who are stranded…nice story.
On the flip side is a Chickpea ruby really the best diet when you can’t get near a khazi for 3 days. 
robroy:
GasGas:
On a brighter, but related note…Good on those Sikh guys for feeding these lads who are stranded…nice story.
On the flip side is a Chickpea ruby really the best diet when you can’t get near a khazi for 3 days.
Brilliant story Sikh community living in the uk feeding German,french,polish,Latvian,romainian,British etc drivers well done for showing compassion in a crisis
Meanwhile, truck drivers stranded in Kent have called for immediate help from the government, with hundreds facing a third night sleeping in their cabs.
Truck driver Laszlo Baliga, 51, from London, spent Tuesday delivering food and water to those lined up at Manston Airport, a disused airfield.
He began taking supplies after Hungarian drivers stranded in the lorry park posted on Facebook asking for help, with one telling him the only toilet on the site had been blocked.
He said he and friends had so far spent more than £500 on food and water for drivers at the site.
Mr Baliga said: "We have got ready-to-eat sausages, bread, tomatoes, lettuce, coffee. Basic foods for now for the drivers.
The government defended the facilities for stranded drivers, saying there were “more than adequate health and welfare provisions available”. – Yes we issued a single spade and told them to dig a hole …
And in other news Kent council took the opportunity to issue parking tickets to trucks exceeding the parking limits in lay-byes.
OwenMoney:
Meanwhile, truck drivers stranded in Kent have called for immediate help from the government, with hundreds facing a third night sleeping in their cabs.The government defended the facilities for stranded drivers, saying there were “more than adequate health and welfare provisions available”. – Yes we issued a single spade and told them to dig a hole …
Operation Stack - Great Success! It would be interesting to read some survivor stories later on. At least we now know we’re 100% prepared for the post-Brexit queues 
.
Thanks also to Ramsgate football club for cooking 800 pizzas and distributing them for free at Manston.
By the time drivers get a negative test and can ship there is a truck ban that starts 22.00 Thursday until 22.00 Friday and then the usual 22.00 Saturday night ban not many of these drivers will be home soon.
Just shows we’re wellOut of the eu ( I voted remain ) when the french couldn’t give a ■■■■ about fellow eu citizens ( polish / Romanian / Hungarians ) drivers left at the side of the road by there shutting the border , with very little hope of getting home to be with there families for Xmas ( never mind they must be running low on food etc )
I always thought we were better off in the eu ( some selfish reasons ) , but seeing this has opened my eyes , I’ll vote leave if we ever have another vote
This mornings article by the BBC…on how dependant on the eu,we are(for food)shows a baby sucking on a raw cabbage leaf.
commonrail:
This mornings article by the BBC…on how dependant on the eu,we are(for food)shows a baby sucking on a raw cabbage leaf.
Probably run out of Mangle Wurzle or turnips-
OwenMoney:
And in other news Kent council took the opportunity to issue parking tickets to trucks exceeding the parking limits in lay-byes.
I really do hope this isn’t true…if it is then this country is screwed beyond help.
Wardens from Folkestone and Hythe council slapped parking fines on the windscreen wipers of trucks unable to move due to the border closure.
Paul McNamara, a journalist for Channel 4 who was in the area, found the drivers in a slip road to the M20.
The drivers, some from Italy and Romania, were furious at being handed the penalties and vowed to not pay.
A spokesman for the authority stood by the fines, saying lorries parking causes damage to verges, littering, human excrement, dangerous obstructions and nuisance to residents. A spokesperson for Folkestone and Hythe District Council told i: “There are official lorry parks which should be used by drivers rather than coming off the designated routes and parking illegally in areas that were never designed for such use.’
“Whilst the current situation might seem unusual, local residents have endured unpleasant impacts whenever there is cross channel disruption.
“We’ve been informed that there is plenty of space in the official areas designated for lorries waiting to cross the channel and clear signage is in place to direct drivers to these.”
They added that they will continue to patrol areas as normal to encourage lorries to follow the official process during normal times.
Hahaha - 