Drivers in Folkestone and Dover faced travel chaos on the busiest shopping day of the year today, as bad weather and broken down trains combined forcing thousands of motorists and lorries onto side roads across SE Kent. Operation Stack Phase 2, where the M20 motorway is closed and used as a temporary lorry park, was implemented when lorries backlogged at the Port of Dover after bad weather in Clais prevented ferries disembarking and trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel stranding thousands of travellers.
Two thousand Eurostar passengers spent up to 16 hours stuck in their trains - many without food or water - after trains suffered electrical failures in the Tunnel. Other passengers were stranded in trains at sidings at Folkestone. Severe weather at Clais which prevented ferries leaving and dangerous road conditions in Kent combined to cause congestion at the Channel Tunnel entrance at Folkestone and at the Port of Dover which then spread to nearby areas and onto M20 as traffic built up.
"Many people have spent a long time in their cars and other vehicles on the motorway and the major routes around the port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel at Cheriton near Folkestone," said Chief Superintendent Matthew Nix from Kent Police.
Chief Inspector Nicola Faulconbridge from Kent Police said: "We would urge drivers to avoid the M20 in the Folkestone and Dover areas. Unless your journey is absolutely vital do not travel."
SE Kent and Shepway escaped the worst of the travel problems that beset much of Kent yesterday after the heavy snow that blanketted the rest of the county bypassed Folkestone and Romney Marsh but heavy snow is forecast for the region tonight and tomorrow.
Drivers in Folkestone and Dover faced travel chaos on the busiest shopping day of the year today, as bad weather and broken down trains combined forcing thousands of motorists and lorries onto side roads across SE Kent. Operation Stack Phase 2, where the M20 motorway is closed and used as a temporary lorry park, was implemented when lorries backlogged at the Port of Dover after bad weather in Clais prevented ferries disembarking and trains broke down in the Channel Tunnel stranding thousands of travellers.
Two thousand Eurostar passengers spent up to 16 hours stuck in their trains - many without food or water - after trains suffered electrical failures in the Tunnel. Other passengers were stranded in trains at sidings at Folkestone. Severe weather at Clais which prevented ferries leaving and dangerous road conditions in Kent combined to cause congestion at the Channel Tunnel entrance at Folkestone and at the Port of Dover which then spread to nearby areas and onto M20 as traffic built up.
"Many people have spent a long time in their cars and other vehicles on the motorway and the major routes around the port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel at Cheriton near Folkestone," said Chief Superintendent Matthew Nix from Kent Police.
Chief Inspector Nicola Faulconbridge from Kent Police said: "We would urge drivers to avoid the M20 in the Folkestone and Dover areas. Unless your journey is absolutely vital do not travel."
SE Kent and Shepway escaped the worst of the travel problems that beset much of Kent yesterday after the heavy snow that blanketted the rest of the county bypassed Folkestone and Romney Marsh but heavy snow is forecast for the region tonight and tomorrow.
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