Thousands of truckers stuck in Kent await coronavirus tests [LIVE]
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Welcome to our live coverage of the situation in Kent, where thousands of lorry drivers are set to be tested for coronavirus to allow them to enter France and return to their families.
An agreement to reopen the UK-France border and allow both accompanied freight services and some passenger services to resume has been reached by the UK and French Governments.
However, negative coronavirus tests are required in order to enter France, forcing the UK into organising rapid testing for as many as 10,000 lorry drivers stranded in Kent.
Kent lorry chaos could get WORSE: Officials are performing as few as 200 tests an hour - meaning 10,000 stranded truckers could take DAYS to clear threatening food shortages after clashes with police and blockades
Truckers try to force their way past police guarding Port of Dover as hundreds leave cabs and walk along road
Jeering and whistling with some shouting: Open the border , We just want to go home and F you, Boris!
France announced travel ban on all traffic from UK on Sunday night after emergence of new Covid-19 strain
Decision meant Port of Dover was dramatically closed to all freight vehicles leaving the UK for next 48 hours
A coronavirus patient with medics in PPE gear (Image: GETTY) The number of trucks arriving in the UK from the EU has been slashed as businesses and drivers could not risk their trucks being caught in huge delays returning to France. France is now putting protocols in place to get goods moving again, but given the critical timing, the damage has already been done.
The ParcelHero Head of Consumer Research said that most of his companies deliveries are via airfreight, so will not be disrupted by the closure of sea routes.
He said: International parcels mostly travel by airfreight and will be less impacted by the closure of EU ports, so most ParcelHero services are unaffected, but we have to be realistic about how many goods are arriving in the UK now as a whole – especially larger items arriving by container lorries.
Deal or no-deal, Europe’s major ports are ready for Brexit. Here’s how they did it
While the UK officially exited the European Union on January 31, the impact of its departure has yet to fully manifest itself on either side of the English Channel.
The negotiations on a new trading relationship to mitigate the fallout of the decision, taken four years ago, are locked in a stalemate, leaving the true cost of quitting the union as yet unquantified.
This will all change on December 31 when the transition period ends and Brexit becomes a reality, with or without a deal to soften the economic blow.