[ad_1]
The blockade on the British side of the English Channel increases with each passing hour.
Hundreds of Romanians are among the thousands of drivers and passengers stranded in Dover since Sunday, after France banned the transport of goods and people from the Kingdom. The drastic measure was taken due to the new strain of the SARS COV-2 virus that has alerted the entire world. British officials say they have agreed with the French to resume freight traffic tomorrow. Beforehand, the army will mobilize to test the truckers.
Drivers who were stranded in Kent on Sunday are about to give up. For 48 hours, the M20 motorway to Dover has been turned into a huge parking lot. Also, all vacant places or secondary roads in the area.
Thousands of drivers from continental Europe can’t get home two or three days before Christmas. Among them, many Romanians.
Alexander has been a driver and has transported goods in the UK for years.
Alexandru, driver: “If they don’t let us go, all we have to do is swim to France. They didn’t give a decision, nothing, they didn’t announce, they just closed.”
Truck driver: “I sleep here in the cabin, a meter 20 by a meter 20.”
Truck driver: “It’s crazy, I can’t go back to Poland.”
Approximately 10,000 trucks pass through the port of Dover on a typical day and carry 20% of Britain’s freight trade.
Most of the affected drivers do not have access to food or toilets.
Adrian Jones, trucking officer: “We have to help them. It is unacceptable to spend days at a shooting range and without any prospect of a solution.”
Dozens of coaches and minibuses bound for Eastern Europe are also caught in lines that stretch for tens of kilometers. Drivers and passengers alike wait for the ferry to resume.
Take Nedelcu, driver: “The situation is quite critical, we are sitting in the car with the children.”
Denis, originally from Gorj, worked for a few months in Great Britain.
Denis: “I wanted to go home for the holidays, I had a flight on the 22nd and I thought maybe canceling it and I decided to go home faster, on the 20th, and that’s what happened, they canceled the flight and fixed it when I got here at the port they closed the port ”.
An association of Romanians from the diaspora brought food and water to the people.
Melania, member of the Association of Volunteers of Europe: “Many people mobilized, made donations in food, water, toiletries. Priority is given to minibuses and coaches carrying passengers where, unfortunately, there are also children and women ”.
Meanwhile, British officials warn that stores could run out of food, especially vegetables and fruits, starting next week. Despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s call last night, the British are frantically emptying store shelves.
The MFA has made efforts in Great Britain and France
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has again taken measures to unblock the situation. Water, food, masks, gloves and disinfectant were distributed to hundreds of people.
During this day, steps were continued at the European and bilateral level in relation to France, including at ministerial level, to request the urgent identification of a solution to unblock the current situation of stranded Romanian citizens and carriers, along with many other citizens Europeans, on the borders of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, ”the Foreign Office broadcast on Monday night.
At the same time, the Foreign Ministry claims that representatives of the consular section of the Romanian Embassy in London traveled to the Dover area, to provide consular assistance and distribute water and food to the Romanian transporters stationed in this area.
Also last night, a team of consular officers and volunteers registered with the Romanian Embassy in London traveled to Maidstone to support the approximately 350 Romanian citizens stranded in the area, distributing water and food.
Likewise, representatives of the consular section of the Romanian Embassy in London are in Folkestone, to provide consular assistance to Romanian citizens stationed in this area and to distribute food, water, gloves, protective masks and disinfectant.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the Romanian Embassy in London is in permanent dialogue with local authorities, requesting them to provide full support to Romanian citizens stranded in these areas, until a concrete solution is identified.
The MFA mentions that measures have also been taken at the level of the Romanian Embassy in Paris.
“Thus, the diplomatic mission is in constant dialogue with the French authorities and a mobile team from the diplomatic mission is ready to travel to the border crossing with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” added the MFA.
The MFA recalls that, at the level of diplomatic and consular representations in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the French Republic, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of Belgium, the following were made available to Romanian citizens telephone lines dedicated to answering calls. :
0044773871 6335, 0044 7503882992, 0044 8000 353328 – London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
0044 753 560 4342 – Manchester, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
0044 7951858445 – Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
0033 6 80 71 37 29 – Paris, French Republic
0049 160 157 9938 – Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany
0032 2344 0854 – Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium
Furthermore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalls that Romanian citizens can request consular assistance at the telephone numbers of the Romanian Embassy in London: +44 20 76027328; +44 20 7602 9833; +44 20 7603 6694; +44 20 76025193; +44 20 7603 0572; +44 20 7602 2065, Consulate General of Romania in Edinburgh: +44 (0) 131 524 9491; +44 (0) 131 524 9492, Consulate General of Romania in Manchester: +44 (0) 161 236 0478; +44 (0) 161 237 5513; +44 (0) 161 236 9687; +44 (0) 161 236 8995 or at the phone numbers of the Romanian Embassy in Paris: +33 (0) 1 47 05 29 66; +33 (0) 1 47 05 27 55; +33 (0) 1 45 50 39 97; +33 (0) 1 47 05 10 40, Romanian Embassy in Berlin: + 49 30 21239555, + 49 30 21239514, + 49 30 21239516 and Romanian Embassy in Brussels: +32 (0) 2347 5338, +32 (0 ) 2 345 0040, +32 (0) 2 344 1658, calls are redirected to the Contact and Support Center for Romanian Citizens Abroad (CCSCRS) and handled by the call center operators, 24 hours a day , 7 days a week.
