Overview
- French Police Aux Frontières invoked Article 9 on Saturday to suspend or scale back EES biometric registration at the Port of Dover and revert to conventional passport checks to clear multi‑hour queues.
- The delays were driven by the fact that purpose‑built EES kiosks for car passengers were not yet installed or fully working, forcing officers to create traveller records manually and slowing throughput.
- Thousands of holidaymakers faced hours‑long waits to access the port and to pass passport control, some missed sailings, and local responders including the coastguard handed out bottled water to people stranded in heat.
- The problem is not limited to Dover: airports and other crossings in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy have reported EES‑related waits of up to three hours, with industry groups warning of missed flights and wider disruption.
- Ports and authorities say they will review the weekend’s handling with French and EU partners, and officials have urged rapid installation of equipment and clearer contingency plans to avoid repeats during the summer peak.