Possible Traffic Congestion in Dover

[topkatz]

Recently on the News (22 July 2022) there were reports and photos of huge traffic snarls/traffic jams with 4 hour waits in Dover. Apparently, there seems to be a  disagreement between the UK Govt. and the French Govt as to who is to blame.

 

We are planning to take the train from St. Pancras to Dover and take a taxi from the train station to the cruise ship terminal (Cruise Terminal 1) in Dover. Hopefully, the taxi drivers know how to negotiate around local traffic to get us to the port with minimal delays.

 

The question is: Not knowing the local situation in Dover, should we anticipate running into traffic snarls on the trip between the Dover Rail Station and the cruise ship port or am I concerned about nothing? If there are delays, do the taxis charge by the minute or are they paid by the trip (flat fee)?

TIA

[alidor]

We are also doing this in a few days.  I checked it out and it is only .7 of a mile from the train station to the dock, so it is walkable if need be.

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, alidor said:

We are also doing this in a few days.  I checked it out and it is only .7 of a mile from the train station to the dock, so it is walkable if need be.

 

 

The route isn't on the way to the ferryport.

And it's not affected by the usual truck & car snarl-ups -  but they have been major over the past 2 - 3 days, so side roads may have been affected.  

If a walk is needed, it's more like 1 1/4 miles, 25 - 30 minutes.

Simple route, all on sidewalks, no major up-hills.

Not a great way to arrive, but no fear of missing the ship.

 

This seems to have been French immigration (on English soil for the short sea-crossing) getting caught-out by post-Brexit passport paperwork on traditionally the  busiest weekend of the year. Had it not been for Covid this problem would have surfaced two years ago. 

But the traffic lines had already subsided today (sunday)

 

I doubt you'll have a problem, but not the end of the world if you do.  🙂

 

JB 🙂

Edited July 24, 2022 by John Bull

[topkatz]

Thanks @John Bull, really appreciate the input.

One lees thing to worry about. ☺️

 

 

[Globaliser]

On 7/24/2022 at 9:58 PM, John Bull said:

But the traffic lines had already subsided today (sunday)

 

I don't know whether this helps to reassure those who've posted on this thread and who are about to travel, but the mood music suggests an expectation that if there is any recurrence, it's more likely to be at weekends than midweek.

[PhilbeachTraveller]

As Globaliser says, it's the weekends that are the worst. This should only be weekends until about mid September, once the school holidays are over. You should be fine getting a taxi, it's not far, but just give yourself some time if you are doing this at a weekend as the side roads may well be busy.