Covid border chaos: M20 coastbound on-slips between Ashford and Folkestone reopen
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All slip roads leading onto the M20 have now reopened.
Highways England had kept the coastbound on-slips between Junction 9 for Ashford and Junction 13 for Folkestone closed for days - even though the queues on the motorway had cleared following the French border chaos.
The coastbound on-slips were closed between Ashford and Folkestone
It said the move would support Operation Brock , but it led to bewilderment among drivers who had to use the A20 when heading from Ashford to Folkestone.
Motorists could only access the coastbound M20 from the junctions north of Ashford - the closest being Junction 8 for Leeds Castle.
A huge backlog of lorries in Kent that saw drivers stuck in their cabs over Christmas has been cleared.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the M20 has also been reopened after the British Army carried out 21,000 lateral flow tests with 66 positive results.
Thousands of drivers spent days in queues to reach the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel after France temporarily closed its border on December 20.
The move came after the discovery of a fast-spreading Covid-19 variant in the UK, with French authorities easing restrictions on Wednesday.
Around 3,000 hauliers were waiting to cross into France from Kent on the evening of Christmas Day.
Lorries queue at Dover to cross The Channel as Storm Bella delays ferries, while Grant Shapps urges France to ditch testing rule for drivers after just 36 Covid cases found among more than 15,000 swabs
Port of Dover suffered a setback today when freight ferry services were cancelled due to winds of Storm Bella
Services delayed by up to 50 minutes at the Port of Dover today as a knock-on, but have since been cleared
It comes after days of disruption following France s travel ban after the identification of a mutant Covid strain