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My God, the photos look like refugees streaming down the roads in war torn Europe. Was there nobody in Dover who could organise a shuttle from the station to the docks for all these poor people?
I was down at Dover Priory yesterday to see Tornado pass through. After years of procrastination, work is finally being done on the concourse outside the station. The taxi section is all torn up with diggers working, and barriers along the front of the station. Great time to choose, Christmas in the ice. All the lovely trees lining the Folkestone Road went a long time ago of course, totally unnecessarily.
There was a huge queue of people waiting to board shuttle buses, and one bus there. Two taxis were cramming people in outside the Priory Hotel. Presumably they were getting to the docks so what was the problem, not enough shuttle buses and taxis? JHG will know, Phil and I had a chat with him behind his window.
Paul says the eastbound carriageway was grid locked. How can this be with Operation Stack in place for days now?
P&O and LD Lines are carrying foot passengers. Norfolkline never have as there is nowhere for them to go from Dunkerque West which is a long way from Dunkerque. SeaFrance gave up some time ago as there are normally so few footies these days.
The days of masses of footies going across for duty free are long gone. The backpackers and others who used to come down on the train and get shuttled to the ferries have also gone as Eurostar took all that traffic, rail passengers being able to go direct by train from London to the continent. Some of the infrastructure has therefore gone. The big footies departure lounge above the booking hall in the docks has long been closed.
So what went wrong? Was the eastbound carriageway really grid locked and, if so, why did the police not deal with it? Were there not enough shuttle buses and, if so, why were more not hired by the ferry companies? Was there too much congestion in the concourse outside the station and, if so, why have they started digging it all up at this time of year when a pre Chistmas rush is the norm, let alone an unexpected contingency such as this? Was DHB doing anything to assist getting their customers from the station to the docks or were the fat cats sitting in their office working out the mega bonuses they expect when the port is privatised? Why did DDC not arrange for grit to be down for all these unfortunates struggling with their luggage along the icy roads and pavements? Did the Southeastern railway and Eurostar do anything to assist their customers in the final leg of their journey?
P&O were taking at least 500 footies on every sailing, and LD taking as many as they could carry. The provision was there to get them to France, why could none of the organisations mentioned manage to get them from the station to the docks?
Edit: Posted this and saw that JHG had come up trumps and posted minutes before giving the lowdown. The whole thing is a shambles and I would feel ashamed to be a Dovorian and British were it not for the fact that total disorganised chaos is now the norm in this country and nobody expects anything else.