MP blasts ministers’ reaction to travel chaos at the UK’s busiest port as ’embarrassingly poor’
Charlie Elphicke claims heaven and earth would have been moved if the problems had hit 'elite jet-set' at Heathrow
TRAVEL chaos at Dover has been allowed to continue for years because ministers have “sneered” at car-driving holidaymakers and hard-working truckers, the local MP has claimed.
Furious Tory Charlie Elphicke said similar problems for the “elite jet-set” at Heathrow would have been fixed years ago as he slammed the “embarrassingly poor” response to last week’s 14-hour tailbacks at the port.
Huge jams formed on the M20 as French border officials beefed-up checks in the wake of the Nice terror attacks.
But Mr Elphicke said it was just the latest excuse for annual travel turmoil at the south coast port.
Deep down we know that if this happened at Heathrow there would be uproar. Ministers would loom large on our TV screens, moving heaven and earth to sort it out
MP Charlie Elphicke on Dover delays
He said: “Deep down we know that if this happened at Heathrow there would be uproar. Ministers would loom large on our TV screens, moving heaven and earth to sort it out.
“But it’s somehow seen as okay for tens of thousands of holidaymakers and truckers to be stuck in the sweltering heat all day long without water, food, information or toilet facilities.
“You can’t help but get the impression that travelling from the Channel Ports is looked down upon and far less of a priority than the elite jet-set.”
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Mr Elphicke’s attack is particularly stinging because he was a Government Whip until earlier this month.
It will be seen by some as an attack on private school-educated David Cameron and George Osborne – similar to Theresa May’s calls for the Government not to be driven by “the interests of the privileged few”.
The MP for Dover and Deal repeated claims that ministers ignored warnings of a growing problem at the port, claiming the Government had been “asleep at the wheel”.
He called for huge sums of cash earmarked for new airports to be re-directed towards infrastructure – such as better road access to ports – that will “make a difference to travelling Britons”.
And he demanded an end to “dithering” over building a massive new lorry park to get traffic off the roads when problems hit.