France suspends EES checks at Dover due to four-hour delays

Entry-Exit System (EES) checks have been suspended at Dover as holidaymakers heading to France for half-term faced queues of more than four hours.

French border authorities suspended the post-Brexit EES checks this morning as Bank Holiday traffic built up at the port, where authorities described the queues as “challenging”.

There have been long delays at airports from EES biometric checks in recent months, but the fingerprints and facial scans required are not yet being carried out on car passengers at Dover due to problems with French border technology.

Only coach passengers at the port have been having their biometrics taken for the past few months, with French Police Aux Frontieres (PAF) instead manually creating an EES file for car travellers since 10 April.

But this morning’s suspension until traffic is cleared has seen border officers reverting to manual stamping of passports, which EES is due to replace.