operation stack

[barney]

I'm just wondering if Operation Stack in Kent has been well reported around the country.

To summarise, French ferry workers strike.
Trucks back up to the level where there is no space to put them.
Kent Police close a section of the M20 to parke them - junctions 8-9 Madistone to Ashford
It gets worse so they close more motorway eventually leading to a closure from J7 to J12
That's 26 miles in total, closed and used as a lorry park.

The knock on effect is obviously all other traffic has to use the A roads leaving Maidstone & Ashford in gridlock for five days.

The bill to this country is alledgedly £1 billion in lost revenue.
That's not including the Police cost of Stack and supplying the stranded drivers with food and water
KCC paid for that from the council tax money.

This is now happening about four times a year for various reasons, generally industrial action French side.
Tuesday evening it took over two hours to cross town.

So, is it just our problem down here or is it reported across the country?
One local MP just said on TV that it's unacceptable and someone should do something about it!
'You' I shouted at the TV.
You're the bloomin MP, You do something about it.

[Meg 50]

OH's cousin was driving a mini bus of teenagers to Taize (France) over the weekend - he started by the M25 being shut and having to drive through London, then Operation stack meant they missed the ferry and had to wait overnight for the next one.

OH is due to visit a client in Ashford on Thursday and they're keeping him up to date with developments. He's hoping not to have to cancel

[Meg 50]

hopefully it won't still be going on by then, but we're thinking about going to Rochester next week - sight-seeing...

will it be a good idea?

[Manoverboard]

BBC TV ( South ) did a piece on it but it doesn't get regular coverage, unless I missed it.

Living in Darzet we are not impacted by it although it did annoy me watching the French Police simply ignoring the immigrants running amok but I laughed out loud and applauded the British lorry driver who parked his lorry in front of the car park entrance to the French Union's Headquarters so they couldn't get out ... needless to say the French Police did turn up for that incident

[qbman1]

All I really get to hear about it are the reports on Radio 2's travel bulletins

[Mervyn and Trish]

We saw plenty of coverage of it. We should send the bill to the French government and tell them if they don't pay we'll brick up our end of the tunnel!

[Stephen]

We saw plenty of coverage of it. We should send the bill to the French government and tell them if they don't pay we'll brick up our end of the tunnel!

[Dark Knight]

this is costing a sodding fortune and the French as usual want to pass the buck
if the Frogs policed their borders properly and stopped the illegal transit of immigrants through france and policed their ports properly, we would not be in this mess
however the cheese eating surrender monkeys , just want to pass the problem onto us.

[david63]

If this was happening at a "northern" port it would not even get a mention on the news!

To my mind this is simple and no different than any any other form of transport - you book a place on the ferry and if the ferry is not running then you don't turn up, and if you do then you are sent away. Where the drivers go is their/their company's problem - not the local residents. Alternatively charge the lorry owners £100 an hour to park on the M20 and then see how few there would be.

[Silver_Shiney]

We saw plenty of coverage of it. We should send the bill to the French government and tell them if they don't pay we'll brick up our end of the tunnel!

[barney]

Operation Stack on again today and it took me an hour to go to see a client four miles away

That's four times in the last two weeks, one of which lasted four days.

I'm starting to agree with Merv.

Brick the bloomin thing up.

Grrrrrr

[Gill W]

hopefully it won't still be going on by then, but we're thinking about going to Rochester next week - sight-seeing...

will it be a good idea?

It doesn't affect the Medway Towns as much as the Maidstone area.

It's a very good idea to visit Rochester - Rochester Castle ( this year is the 800th anniversary of the siege), Rochester Cathedral and a 'quaint' High Street. Should be a nice day out

[Gill W]

Operation Stack on again today and it took me an hour to go to see a client four miles away

That's four times in the last two weeks, one of which lasted four days.

I'm starting to agree with Merv.

Brick the bloomin thing up.

Grrrrrr

Although I'm not badly affected by all this, you have my sympathy. I hate lorries cluttering up my county!

[Mervyn and Trish]

The French police seem to be very short sighted. They clearly do as little as possible to deter those trying to illegally cross to England in the misguided believe the problem then becomes ours. In fact of course because Calais is seen as an easy option, for every one they turn a blind eye to and allow through another two arrive. If instead they took a very harsh line it would involve more work in the sort term but in the longer term people would come to the conclusion it wasn't worth the effort trying to get across that way.

Equally they take a very soft line with their own militants blocking the port, with the result that everyone from sailors to dustmen to chartered accountants in France blockades Calais when they have a grievance, related to travel or not. I'm amazed Arthur Scargill never thought of it. If instead they sent in the water cannon and mounted police with rubber bullets they'd never be bothered again.

Seemples. You can now see what a good Chief Constable I'd have made if I'd considered that career.

By the way I apply the same logic to criminal sentences. If you got five years in Dartmoor for dropping a fag end and ten years for shoplifting there'd be a lot less crime very quickly.

[Silver_Shiney]

I'm with you there, Merv

[ITWA Travel Writer]

Not a lot of the 1904 “entente cordiale”, as brokered with the aid of “Little England’s” Edward VII shown in this post!!

Motorway’s, Channel Tunnel’s, lorry parks and industrial disputes, all we want up here is a simple dual carriageway between Aberdeen and Inverness, preferably missing Pluscarden Abbey to stop the resident monks protesting!!

[Mervyn and Trish]

When Mrs Krankie gets the power to set income tax levels in Scotland tell her to up the basic rate to 30p and she'll have plenty of money to sort it out.

[JoanneB]

Just came back through the tunnel on Friday long queues of lorries on both sides of the channel. And at the border post there was one UK border official for the coaches and we all had to get off and file through very very slowly. Our escort said it was not normally the way things are done, and indeed by the time we had waited half an hour three more officers wandered in, presumably post lunch!

[ITWA Travel Writer]

Now Mervyn, when Mrs Krankey and I last spoke we thought that we should impose on every P&O ship entering “Scottish Territorial Waters” a requirement for everyone on-board not holding a Passport issued from the passport office in Milton Street, Cowcaddens, Glasgow, to be required to purchase a Visa costing £5 Scots. Now that would pay for my dual carriageway!!

[Silver_Shiney]

Is that £5 Scots Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland or Clydesdale Bank?

[Mervyn and Trish]

Aren't they all the same since the UK taxpayers bailed them out?