Wake up and smell the piss

“They chuck two-litre Coke bottles full of piss straight onto the roadside” says the 77-year-old retiree living on the outskirts of Dover in Kent who voted Leave in the 2016 referendum. “I work on my garden and in my workshop. But you can really smell the fumes.”

They guy lives in Aycliffe, his garden backs onto the A20, one of the residents who complained about the noise in 2015 when there was last such queues to get to the port. They insisted noise abatement warnings were posted on lamp posts to try to make sure the drivers were quiet.

Bottles of piss have been one of the most common sights in Kent for a decade now, since Kent County Council blocked most of the lay-bys off to try to force drivers in using the municipal lorry park in Dover, for which they would have to pay to use. So, drivers piss in bottles and toss them out of the window as they speed through the Garden of England in order to get somewhere else as quickly as possible.

Voting to leave the EU was always going to have consequences, especially in Kent, especially in Dover, as the Conservative governments of Cameron and May allowed the ports at Fokestone and Ramsgate to close, and let the maret decide the short crossing between Dover and Calais bejust about the only route left, as it was the quicket with fast turnaround. Folkestone has ripped out their ferry berths, the port is gone, turned into a shopping destination. Ramsgate still have theirs, but the berths are narrow, and it is very hard to find ferries that can use them.

In the 1970s, there was a choice of options, even from Dover; ferry, hovercraft, jetfoil, tran ferry as well as the other ports. Traffic used to have to get through Dover from Whitfield, down Crabble Hill past our old flat, jams so bad that Jools' brother used to make money by selling the waiting drivers newspapers. Traffic use to go to both the Eastern and Western docks, many used to arrive on train and cross on foot or even on the Orient Express or night ferry service.

In 2015, trucks and cars were stuck in traffic jams so bad it took 12 hours to get to Dover from London in a car, and days for lorries. The M20 was quaruple stacked with lorries between Ashford and Maidstone, 4 lots of 15 miles. And then traffic for miles leading to the Tunnel and then from Folkestone to Dover. All traffic bas banned from the M20, instead had to use other A roads and lanes, although it was bad around Dover, as lorries were only allowed in the town when there was a space on a ferry, with was quiet, up near Maidstone there was almost total gridlock.

People questioned the lorries queing this week as to what they could be carrying, so many of them to jam the ports. Many might not have been carrying anything, but had arrived in Britain to deliver, and gone back empty, or maybe some last mnute-goods being sent to avoid the chaos of 2021. Dover operates at over 90% capacity most days, anything that stops the smooth flow of freight will quickly produce jams. Be that a immigration officer or customs offical on the French side not turning up, or a ferry breaking down, or just extra demand. Suddenly all main roads into the town are jammed. Our life needs to go on, so we have to do workrounds. We are lucky, there is a route along the cliffs into Dover, we can get around.

One night about nine years ago, I can't remember the reason, ther port was closed, and when I tried to pick up Jools from the factory, it took me an hour to get from Whitfield to Crabble Hill, where she was walking up to meet up with me. We turned round, battled to Whitfield to have a cupper at Jen's and Jools' Dad's. We got home some time after eight. This could well be how it is every night in just over two weeks, life will soon become unbareable in Dover, shops will be empty, people not able to get their children to school. Or not. I mean, we guess this is what will happen, we have seen days like this in the past. So, it is an educated guess, but a guess just the same. I hope I am wrong. I hope we are all wrong, but the sheer lack of preparation by UK Government is breathtaking, as is their current "prepare for the change" ads, which for most is a sick joke as none of us knows what to prepare for, until we know if there is a deal or not.

We have a three month stock of food. We hope to be OK, we hope others will be too.

Coping with COVID or Brexit would challenge the most skilled and experienced Government, but this Government coping with both crisis at the same time, well, I fear for the country.

What's the betting the same Government will use the crisis to use more emergency laws to issue SIs rather than face scrutiny??

Quite high.