Queues close to an hour at Port of Dover ahead of one of the busiest weekends for drivers

Queues close to an hour formed at the Port of Dover on Friday night, ahead of what's expected to be one of the busiest weekends in years for drivers.

Reports from Kent held that there were queues of up to 45 minutes on Friday, as the RAC predicted 14.1 million drivers on the roads this weekend.

That would make the second busiest day of driving since the RAC began tracking data in 2016. Saturday's set to be the busiest day, with 3.4 million estimated drivers.

Elsewhere, the Port of Dover said it expected around 7,500 cars at the site on Friday, before almost 10,000 on Saturday.

Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Kent port, also said staff there have done "absolutely everything" to prepare for the summer getaway amid fears of more delays caused by new EU border Entry/Exit System (EES) checks.

Read more: How does the EES system work?

The system was rolled out fully in April, and involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and a photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area, which consists of 29 European countries, mainly in the EU.

For most UK travellers, the process happens at foreign airports. But, it is also carried out at the Port of Dover, Eurotunnel's Folkestone terminal and London St Pancras railway station, which all have juxtaposed border controls.

The Port of Dover declared a "critical incident" during the May half-term after waiting times reached four-and-a-half hours on a day with about 8,500 outbound tourist vehicles.

Mr Bannister told the Press Association that "We've done absolutely everything that we can... in preparing for the summer.

"But there are still a lot of unknowns and uncertainties around how the EES process will affect travel."

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Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander met French counterpart Phillippe Tabarot recently to call for a pragmatic approach to EES checks.

Around £20m in government funding was announced by the Department for Transport on Monday to boost infrastructure in Kent to reduce delays.

That followed a previous £10.5m investment shared by Dover, Folkestone and St Pancras.

(c) Sky News 2026: Queues close to an hour at Port of Dover ahead of one of the busiest weekends for drivers