German ambassador stranded in mayhem on mercy mission to lorry drivers trapped at Manston airfield

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The German ambassador to the UK got stuck in gridlocked traffic today as he embarked on a mercy mission to visit stranded lorry drivers caught up in the Kent chaos.

Ambassador Andreas Michaelis was heading to visit German nationals who are among the thousands of European truckers stuck in a makeshift camp at Manston airport and facing the prospect of spending Christmas trapped in their cabs in Britain.

But the high-ranking diplomat had to make do with a phone call after he got trapped in a lorry jam. He tweeted: ‘Scheduled to meet up with German truck drivers. Last stretch difficult. Could not reach the airfield. Could only speak to them on the phone. Still very difficult situation for them. Too little information.’

He also thanked Kent local ‘heroes’ Lydia and Dave who were handing out food to truck drivers on the A299.

Meanwhile Sikh charity members who last night delivered 800 meals to truckers at the airport have launched a fresh appeal for food parcels. The volunteers drove 80 miles from Coventry, partly under police escort, to feed the drivers with hot curries and pasta dishes, after they were previously given cereal bars by the local council.

The humanitarian charity has said they intend to deliver another 1,000 hot meals to truckers tonight and are also asking for items including juice, biscuits and Christmas treats to boost the drivers’ spirits.

Their appeal comes amid complaints of poor living conditions at the camp, where toilets were branded ‘not a pretty sight’ and many drivers have been unable to shower for more than two days.

It comes after tensions boiled over this morning, with truckers desperate to get home for Christmas staging a protest, breaking down fences and blocking roads.

One Polish driver told MailOnline: ‘We are sick of this – I’ve been in Dover for two days and want to go home for Christmas. Nobody wants another night sleeping in their cab.’

A total of 3,800 drivers are parked up at Manston Airport, with about another 1,000 held in official ‘traffic management operations’ across Kent. But industry experts this morning estimated there are up to 10,000 lorry drivers spread out across the snarled-up county.

Rod McKenzie of the Road Haulage Association described the situation as ‘chaos’ as he said the drivers are ‘tired, frustrated, [and] desperately wanting to get home for Christmas.’

The military and NHS are currently carrying out a mass testing programme after France confirmed it would allow hauliers with a negative Covid test to travel across the French border.

It comes as:

• Gridlock in Kent could last for days after fights broke out between lorry drivers and police at the Port of Dover and Manston Airport – and testing staff arrived in an attempt to get them across the Channel for Christmas;
• Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced more areas of England, including Oxfordshire and East Anglia, will be put into Tier 4 from 00.01 on Boxing Day after a new South African strain of the virus has been identified;  
• Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she has ‘no excuses’ for breaking coronavirus rules, as she apologised in the Scottish Parliament for not wearing a face mask wile attending a wake at a pub; 
• Sinn Fein has said an island-wide travel shutout should be introduced in Ireland to stem the variant’s spread.

The rapid test kits deliver results in 30 minutes, but there are fears the growing backlog of waiting trucks will not be cleared ahead of December 25. One testing point is being set up at the Dreamland amusement park in Margate. 

But the tests are controversial as lateral flow kits are more likely to miss people who are carrying the virus.

The stranded drivers today pleaded to be allowed home for Christmas amid fears that even with the introduction of rapid testing the backlog of drivers will take days to clear. 

Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that the border with France was reopening around 1pm today. She Tweeted: ‘Priority is to get lorries moving and mass testing is underway.

‘We urge hauliers not to travel to Kent as we work to alleviate congestion – travelling now will slow things down. Tourist travellers who are not French residents should not travel.’

She added: ‘My huge thanks goes to the police and Border Force who are working hard to keep everyone safe.’

But drivers on the ground claimed they had been given very little information.  

The chaotic situation caused tensions to flare between drivers and police at the Port of Dover this morning.

Protests began with the lorry drivers sounding their horns at the same time, before it escalated and hundreds of angry truckers blockaded the A299 at Manston Airport in a mass protest. 

The drivers reportedly broke down the perimeter of the airport before stopping traffic in both directions. 

Greg Mazurek has been trapped at Dover since Monday after delivering respirators to a medical centre in Hemel Hempstead.

He is trying to get back to his home in a Poznań in Poland for Christmas.

He said: ‘The police were not clearing the port to set up a testing centre, it was to let lorries out of Dover.

‘That’s why the drivers are now stopping the vehicles from leaving because they want to force the police to do something.

‘We’ve been told different things by different police officers about what’s happening. Who do we believe.

‘People are angry because they want to go home. The irony is that I’m more likely to get this new Covid standing here among dozens of people than being alone in my cab which I had been before.’

Van driver Emil Liveu, who is transporting parcels from the UK to Romania, has also been stuck at the Port of Dover since 10pm on Sunday night.

He said he is trying to get home to spend his first Christmas with his new baby: ‘We’re stuck here. No toilet, no food.’ 

‘They told me I need to get a Covid test to cross the border,’ the 30-year-old said.

‘I found a private test, I paid for it, they give me the test, I come back here and they told me no.’

Mr Liveu, who has been sleeping in his cab since Sunday, said: ‘It’s hard to pay for a hotel when you have paid £130 for the test, money for diesel, paying for the motorway.’

On making it back home to Romania for Christmas, he said: ‘If I leave now, maybe I’ll get back. But to be honest, I don’t think I have any chance.

‘I have a small baby at home, it would be first Christmas together, but that’s it, I guess we’ll do it on Facebook.

‘Everyone is hoping because there are a lot of people here with children.’

A German van driver who drove to the UK to make a delivery in Liverpool, and has been trapped in Kent since the weekend, said many other truckers were also desperate to see their families. 

He said: ‘I want to go back to my family for Christmas. They are waiting for me. Every family is waiting for their men.’ 

He told BBC Radio 4: ‘I would like to go back home for Christmas. At the moment it’s a catastrophe situation because I can’t go back home. I must come here to make a Covid test appointment. 

The people from Manston Covid test centre told me to go to Margate, and the people from Margate told me to go back to Manston again, and I really do not know what to do.’ 

The drivers’ comments follow 48 hours of chaos on the south coast of England.  

Kent Resilience Forum (KRF), which includes Kent Police, Kent County Council, Highways England and the Department of Transport, said that drivers stuck on the M20 were being provided with food and drinks and that more toilets were being delivered today after a driver yesterday described the facilities in Dover as ‘not a pretty sight’.

A spokesman said: ‘On the M20, Kent County Council continues to ensure drivers are provided with snacks, drinking water and hot food.

‘Portable toilets were rolled out Monday at 1km intervals between junctions 10a-11 and these are being regularly cleaned.

‘A further 150 toilets are available for drivers at Manston, where there are also hot food trucks and water.’

An additional 70 toilets are arriving at Manston Airport, which is being used as a makeshift lorry park, this morning. 

But industry bosses branded the treatment of the stranded truckers ‘a disgrace’.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association said: ‘They’re going to give drivers two litres of water every day. We need to ensure that drivers have got sufficient food and water. Kent County Council were giving cereal bars yesterday morning which was not enough.

‘The Sikh community went with takeaways last night and the Salvation Army, but the government should have had this in place.’

Burnett added that 20 takeaway food vans which were meant to be coming to Manston Airport this morning had still not arrived. 

But Polish lorry driver Greg Baranski, 39, claimed there were just two food trucks available and drivers were having to wait around two hours in the rain for a meal. He has been waiting at a Department for Transport-run (DfT) disused airfield site at Manston for the past two days and is eager to return home.

He said: ‘People here are from Romania, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal, and we are all really angry and hungry.  My situation is not nice. I’ve been waiting here for about two days, and we do not know what will happen next. We are waiting for a test for coronavirus, after when we are negative we can go to Dover and pass the channel and go back home.

‘But it is too late now, because of Christmas coming after tomorrow. That means it doesn’t matter for us, 100% now we won’t make it home for Christmas. I’m not happy. My family are waiting for me but probably I will be home after Christmas.’ 

Last night members of the Gravesend Gurdwara Sikh community cooked up 500 chickpea curries and 300 mushroom pasta dishes in just under three hours before being escorted to the airport by police.

Previously Kent County Council had handed out cereal bars and raced to provide more toilet facilities for the makeshift camp, while volunteers from Ramsgate FC made 200 pizzas for the drivers. The Salvation Army is also helping feed drivers stranded along the M20 motorway

Sikh charity KhalsaAid pledged to provide another 1,000 hot meals for the truckers today. The meals were prepared with help by volunteers from the Guru Nanak Darbar temple in Gravesend. 

Indy Singh, 31, operations director for KhalsaAid told Mail Online: ‘We are trying to bring some festive cheer to these people who are stuck there through no fault of their own. These are ordinary people just doing their jobs and trying to get home to their families.’ 

KhalsaAid founder Ravi Singh told the BBC: ‘Everyone’s working together. It’s horrible for [the drivers], there’s nothing here – no food, no shops – it’s like a prison for them. We can’t sit back and do nothing.’ 

The Salvation Army has also been working with the emergency services to provide welfare support for a number of stranded lorry drivers caught up in severe traffic delays on the M20.

The group was asked by Kent County Council to support the police as part of Operation Stack, where freight vehicles are parked along the carriageway because of delays at Eurotunnel or the Channel ports as a result of Covid-19 restrictions.

A small team of staff and volunteers from The Salvation Army’s Kent base have been preparing and delivering bagged meals to Kent Police for distribution to drivers in need. Hundreds of lunches have been provided to those stranded so far.

The Salvation Army’s Territorial Emergency Response Officer Adrian Clee said: ‘Our emergency response teams are well known for supporting people in times of hardship and are often called on by the emergency services to provide food, drink and support at large incidents. Salvation Army volunteers have been pleased to roll up their sleeves to support drivers caught up in the delays.’

The Road Haulage Association’s Mr Burnett warned that the queues of lorries on the M20 might not be cleared until Boxing Day, which would mean the truckers will be stuck on the roadside on December 25.  

He added: ‘I think there’s no clear picture as to how long it’s going to take, but my estimations after conversations with Grant Schapps is it could be Boxing Day.

‘Part of the issue is you’ve got restricted services on the Eurotunnel and the ferries are likely to finish tomorrow morning. The border police aren’t going to be working on Christmas day in France.

‘Bearing in mind the government has been trying to prepare for transition which is in eight days time, you would’ve expected these plans to be well rehearsed.

‘It’s an absolute disgrace that they’re not well prepared at all. It’s a scenario that could’ve happened in the case of no-deal.’

He added that Manston Airport, the main testing centre for drivers, was gridlocked with lorries.

He said: ‘The current situation is that Manston is gridlocked and Brock and Stack are in place. They’re trying to do the lateral flow tests, anything between 100 and 300 per hour. It’s more likely to be the low number than the higher number to start with.’

Burnett also said testing was now underway on the approach road to Dover for drivers who were stuck in the queue outside the port. 

Despite the rapid tests, there are fears it will take days to clear the backlog of hauliers stranded at the port. 

Around 50 foreign truckers, van drivers and workers who have been stranded for days at the Kent port town walked up the gridlocked road leading up to the port shouting, whistling and protesting.

They booed at police in front of the port before a small number started pushing officers in a apparent attempt to get break through their lines.

One Romanian said in the pouring rain: ‘We have been here since Monday. We have We just want to get home!’ 

Another man was seen on his knees gesturing wildly for the border to be reopened.

The chaos continued up the M20 motorway into Dover town, where roads were gridlocked. Residential streets as far as three miles away from the Port were at a standstill at 9am today after the border reopened. 

Kent Police said in a statement: ‘Kent Police received reports in the morning of Wednesday 23 December 2020 of disturbances involving individuals in both Dover and at the DfT-run lorry holding facility at Manston who are hoping to cross the Channel.

‘One man has been arrested for obstructing a highway in Dover and remains in custody. 

‘Officers on the ground at both locations are working with partner agencies to make sure those hoping to travel to the continent adhere to the latest Government travel requirements regarding Covid testing.

‘Officers on the ground at both locations are working with partner agencies to make sure those hoping to travel to the continent adhere to the latest Government travel requirements regarding Covid testing.

‘Kent Police continues to work with partner agencies to make sure those hoping to cross the Channel are informed of the latest procedures and requirements.’

In their desperation, some drivers are trying to present fake negative Covid test results at the Port of Dover. 

A police officer at the scene said: ‘I understand why they are angry but they are directing their anger towards us when it’s the French authorities making the rules. 

‘They are insisting that only people who have tested negative for Covid-19 can come through. A lot of these drivers are waving fake test sheets.’ 

The desperate and angry scenes are a sharp contrast to those witnessed yesterday when drivers attempted to keep spirits high. 

One driver was seen pouring wine into cardboard drink cups before serving it to his friends, while another group enjoyed a vodka and Coke around a small Christmas tree decked with used drinks cans.

Others also attempted to take the travel chaos in their stride. One Turkish long-haul truck driver, seemingly unfazed by the mass-disruption around him, was seen tucking into a Mediterranean breakfast at a Kent truck stop off the M20. 

Another cooked breakfast from the back of his lorry. One driver was also spotted hanging out clothes and towels to dry on the front of his lorry.

Other furious French drivers blamed Emmanuel Macron for the chaos at Dover after his travel ban left hundreds stranded in the UK.

One French apple grower cried ‘Macron, merde! Let me come home,’ as she anxiously awaited news on plans to lift the cross-Channel travel ban 

But she and hundreds of others like her today remain stranded in the Kent port town.

Industry experts estimate that more than 10,000 lorries are being held up by the French travel ban which has caused gridlock at the port of Dover. 

Photos showed thousands of lorries parked at the disused Manston Airfield – which was previously reserved for a No Deal Brexit. 

Some fear not being able to return to their families in time for Christmas, while others have bemoaned the toilet situation for stranded drivers – with one saying ‘they are not a pretty sight’.    

The decision by France to ban freight, as well as passenger travel, caught Number 10 off guard with some officials and ministers of the view that Mr Macron is trying to use the situation as leverage in Brexit talks. 

A transport industry source told The Times that Downing Street was ‘incandescent’ when the ban was announced.

But with Highways England warning that delays could last several days, some lorry drivers fear the prospect of missing Christmas with their families. 

Ovidiu Badoiu, 47, a Romanian lorry driver who drove to Britain at the weekend to deliver a stock of fans to a factory in Telford, Shropshire, has been stuck in Dover since Monday.

He said: ‘It’s really difficult, I picked up my load in Romania and took it to the destination in the Midlands on Sunday and came down to Dover the following day where I’ve spent the last two nights sleeping in my lorry.

‘There are no toilets here, nowhere to get washed. I live in Valencia in Spain and just want to get back to my wife in time for Christmas. 

‘I think the French are being over the top about this, why are they not letting the lorries through? 

‘Hardly any of us are stopping in France, just travelling through it on to other destinations.’

One lorry driver told BBC Radio Four yesterday: ‘I feel bad, really bad, terrible in fact. 

‘We known nothing, we don’t know if we can get home to see our families for Christmas.’

On plans for lorry drivers to be tested before their return, he said: ‘It will be good, but maybe in Dover there are 1,000 to 1,500 lorries.

‘If they implement testing here then maybe it will be a good idea, but they need to start now to get to Christmas Eve.’

‘There is no words to describe this. I came on Sunday and on Sunday they decided to close it. 

‘If I knew that one day before, I would never have come here.’ 

Lorry driver Caspar Pecherzewski, from Poland, is also among the lorry drivers caught up in queues at Dover since Sunday.

The 22-year-old said: ‘We can find a toilet, at a gas station or something, but we don’t have showers and stuff.

‘No one is saying anything about how long we will be here. The police just told us to wait.

‘I think I won’t be getting paid while waiting here and my company don’t know what to say because they don’t know what to do, the ports are closed.’

He added: ‘We’re stuck here and we don’t know how long it will take, this situation. It’s really f***** up.’

Trucker Elvis Abdulcair, 43, has a shipment full of Christmas cards and presents posted from England to Romania in his van.

He fears they will not be delivered in time for the big day on December 25.

Mr Abdulcair, who is driving with colleague Daniel Dragomir, also 43, said: ‘I feel like Santa Claus with no reindeers. My sleigh is grounded. 

‘It is very bad because all these people will not have their cards and presents from their family in time for Christmas.

‘The French government is s***. They have ruined it for everyone. And for what?

‘I have been here two days now and don’t know how much longer it will go on for. I just want to go home.’

Greg Mazurek, 36, and Simon Kopanearz, 30, have been stuck near the front of the queue outside the Port since 1pm on Monday.

Mr Mazurek was less than impressed at the toilet situation. He said: ‘The bigger problem is the toilets in the city centre as there is a lot of drivers having to use them. It is not a pretty sight.’

Along with European drivers, British hauliers also face issues due to the travel ban.

Long-distance lorry driver Geoff Moxham could be about to miss his first Christmas at home in 45 years after France closed its borders with Britain.

The Cheltenham grandfather did not realise he was on the last ferry out of Dover until he started talking to a French member of staff who asked him how he was planning to get home.

Now, instead of putting his feet up on Christmas Eve, the dad-of-four faces being stuck at the side of the road with thousands of other drivers or driving down the motorway home.

He said: ‘I was 66 yesterday and spent my birthday on the road and I’m not planning to do the same at Christmas.’

‘I haven’t missed a Christmas at home for 45 years so I will be there even if I have to get a boat.’

HGV driver Frank could have officially retired on his 66th birthday on Sunday. 

Instead he was delivering heavy machinery to Germany for Charles Russell Transport in Deerhurst and drove on to the ferry to Calais at around 6pm on Sunday.

‘I was on the last ferry leaving the UK but I didn’t know until one of the French crew members I know wished me luck getting home.

‘When I asked what he meant he said they were all finishing work and there would be no more transport back to the UK. I was completely taken aback. I couldn’t believe it. There weren’t any announcements and nobody had said anything until then.’

However he remains determined to make it home for Christmas.

He said:  ‘I’ve been married for 44 years and have four daughters and 12 grandchildren so we normally have big family Christmases. I don’t know what happening this year but my wife just called and asked if I can pick up some fresh vegetables on the way back.’

Laszlo Baliga, who was yesterday delivering food and water to those parked on Manston Airport runway, said one driver had told him the only toilet on the site was blocked.

‘No water and no toilet now – there is one toilet, but it is now blocked,’ the 51-year-old told the PA news agency.

Mr Baliga, from London, who himself is a lorry driver, said he began taking supplies to the disused airfield after Hungarian drivers posted on Facebook asking for help.

‘We have taken money from friends and gone to Asda, Tesco,’ he said. ‘This is our third time, we have already brought ready-to-eat sausages, bread, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, coffee. Basic foods for now for the drivers.’

He said he and others have spent more than £500 on food and water for drivers inside the site.

‘When we see Hungarian drivers coming in we say stop, and the drivers take the things into the other side to give to everybody,’ he said. ‘We like to help because this is a difficult time.’ 

Pictures previously showed workers in green jackets handing out bottles of water. Kent County Council also handed out cereal bars to stuck truckers.