Industry leaders have expressed disbelief after it emerged preparations were underway by the government to turn the M26 into a giant lorry park in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit.
Yesterday it was revealed the M26 in Kent would be closed every night for almost six weeks so work could be carried out to test if it could be used to house bottlenecked vehicles in the event of customs chaos.
Highways England confirmed it had been asked by the Department for Transport to look at how the motorway could be modified in case there were major hold-ups at Dover, which food and drink industry leaders have long predicted could be one of the worst-case scenarios of Brexit.
The plans, which threaten to make the scenes of Operation Stack - which sees lorries parked on closed sections of the M20 - a daily reality, would have a disastrous impact on trade, warned trade bodies.
“You couldn’t make it up,” FDF chief executive Ian Wright told The Grocer. “For almost two years now, we have said that a no-deal Brexit means delays and blockages at the ports, and a serious threat to the 40% of our food and drink that we import through the EU.
“It threatens the £13bn of food and drink exports the UK sends to the rest of the EU each year. Time has run out. The government must secure a withdrawal agreement or begin the arrangements to extend the Article 50 deadline so that we don’t make a shambolic exit.”
A BRC spokesman said: “We’ve consistently warned that a ’no-deal’ Brexit would pile huge pressure on the UK’s infrastructure and the key ports, like Calais, on the continent, which would have a devastating impact on imports of fresh food.
“The works on the M26 provide a glimpse of some of the problems ahead if we don’t get a deal.”
The BRC has warned that a single refrigerated lorry gathering dust at Dover would cost companies €500 a day.
With nearly 80% of food imports coming from the EU, it has described Dover as a disaster zone waiting to happen.
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