Tempers boil over in Dover’s ‘Operation Stuck’ as lorry drivers face Christmas in their cabs

The overflow lorry park at Manston airfield on Wednesday

Credit: GETTY IMAGES

Kent Resilience Forum, which includes Kent Police, Kent County Council, Highways England and the Department of Transport, said that drivers stuck on the M20 were being provided with food and drinks and that lavatory facilities were also being provided.

Aside from the truckers there are some families attempting to make the journey home also stuck in the traffic. on Wednesday at the seafront, a father and two young children (who did not speak any English) waited by their car while nearby a French woman, Marie-Noelle, was waiting to catch a ferry in an attempt to get home for her mother’s funeral.

There are fears that if the chaos continues for several more days conditions will further deteriorate, and on Wednesday scores of volunteers rallied round to help those stranded.

Members of the Guru Nanak Darbar temple in Gravesend, Kent, provided 800 meals to those waiting in the queues, supported by a police escort to deliver the food. Staff and volunteers from the Salvation Army have also been preparing and delivering meals to Kent Police for distribution to drivers in need.

The first HGVs started leaving Manston airfield on Wednesday afternoon en route to Dover although Robert Jenrick, the Communities Secretary, has warned it may take a “few days” to clear the backlog.

Many here are now bedding down for a truck-stop Christmas, and hoping they might see their families before the year is out.