Thousands of drivers caught in England celebrating Christmas in the car

Of: Sophie Tanha

Published: December 25, 2020 at 00.33

Drivers trapped at the UK crown closed border risk being left in their trucks over Christmas.

Now French firefighters and the British military are fighting to test all drivers before they are allowed to pass.

But it takes time and drivers will likely be stuck in their trucks until day two.

When British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last weekend that much of England would be shut down due to the new, more contagious variant of the sars-cov-2 virus, more people would be affected than residents of the cities in question.

British travelers have become unwelcome people in several countries that have closed their borders to the UK, while the big food chain Tesco has introduced food rations that may run out in the country’s new isolated situation.

Christmas food: pizza and canned beans.

For the thousands of truck drivers who regularly operate the ferry routes between British Dover and French Calais, the crown’s new policy has had devastating consequences.

Photo: Aaron Chown / TT

Drivers test themselves in the long line of trucks.

For several days, up to 6,000 truckers have been stranded in the border country that emerged in Dover. They have had to rely on the goodwill of the locals to receive food and basic necessities in the mile-long queues.

A group of British Sikhs have tried to lift spirits along the border, among other things, by delivering 1,000 pizzas. Other benefactors over the Christmas weekend stood on a bridge over the highway where the trucks are and unloaded food packages with beans and candy.

Get help from France

But that’s not enough for nostalgic drivers, who would probably rather spend Christmas elsewhere than in a multi-day queue. Pictures taken from above show how stranded drivers used traffic cones to write HELP, help, in huge letters on the ground.

– We just want to go home! shouting some according to the British newspaper Daily Mail, along with angry obscenities directed at Boris Johnson.

Because even if Johnson and Macron have agreed to let drivers cross the border, they must first submit a negative corona test. Although French firefighters crossed the canal to help with 10,000 speed tests, most drivers have no chance of getting home before Christmas weekend. The British Transport Association fears that the last driver will not be able to leave the border country until the second day of Christmas at the earliest.

At best, up to 2,000 drivers can leave England overnight until Christmas Day, if they’re lucky. Of the 2,364 that have been tested so far, only three have tested positive, according to the Daily Mail.

Published: December 25, 2020 at 00.33