17 miles

As much as I would like to say I have proof Brexit isn't working, I also cannot lie.

What we can say without dout is that traffic levels and amount of freight passing through Dover port and the Tunnel is lower than previous years, but also there have been queues this week.

One widely shared meme is satellite iages showing lines of trucks on the A20 approaching Aycliffe. Ths image far from being from this week was at least a year old.

But the lament on line has been BBC reporters were quick to come to DOver to report on the 17 miles of trucks getting into the port this week?

17 miles is from Dover nearly to Ashford, so 17 miles of queues would be from Dover to Hawkinge, to Folkestone, to the services at Hythe and most of the way to the inland freight handling facility in Dover.

Through this week it has not been that bad.

I check the Google Maps traffic radar, mainly to warn Jools of any issues on her evening commute, and the worse it has been was on Wednesday I think, when the line of trucks nearly reached the Roundhill Tunnels at the end of the M20. That is about four miles.

There is a huge difference between 4 and 17 miles.

We rightly call out bullshot from Brexiteers when it is spouted, but we must also make sure that what we, what were once called remainers, is subject to the same scrutiny.

Queues might get longer as more checks come in.

And the queue isn't really a solid queue, as at the traffic lights at Aycliffe there are police stationed there, waiving trucks through as and when there is room at the port. So, the queue is moving all the time. There are some gaps, where drivers are on 15 minute breaks, they wait until the break is over and recorded on the digital taco, then they shuffle up.

On the way out yesterday, we went up the A20 out of Dover to the start of the motorway, so was able to see with my own eyes the reality of the 17 mile queue. It was described above, gaps between tucks in several places, and the end wasn't at the onrap at Capel, less than two miles. Just as the traffic radar had said.

Make sure what information we share is accurate. I am sure that information drom drivers of deays at depots and sometimes at ports is correct, but there have been no 17 miles of queues at Dover this week, at most four miles on the A20, and none on every day bar one on the A2. When we used to get Operation Stack, there would be trucks parked up everywhere. There is nothing like that so far.

We Dovorians would know before most.