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Holidaymakers hoping to travel to France have been told to expect a third day of disruption after the Eurotunnel was hit by long queues of traffic trying to reach Dover.
Passengers hoping to cross the Channel on Sunday were told of delays of at least two hours to ferry terminals due to queues.
A day after authorities declared a serious incident at Dover, officials were handing out food and water to those on the way to the Eurotunnel crossing in Folkestone.
National Highways has warned holidaymakers traveling to France to expect severe delays in Kent on Sunday.
Around 600 vehicles are parked on the M20 as part of Operation Brook, which is designed to keep non-lorry traffic moving across the channel during disruptions.
Jack Cousins, head of road policy at the AA, said Folkestone would be the focus of disruption after “accident-to-accident” chaos in Dover on Sunday.
Two of the main roads leading to the Eurotunnel – the A259 and the A260 – were both closed at 10pm as thousands of commuters headed to France at the start of the school summer holidays.
Cosens told Sky News: “We had cars piled up on part of the M20 as part of Operation Brook and now the change to the A20 – they now meet at the junction 11a terminal and that has caused congestion.”
“Our concern is that the Eurotunnel will now become a major problem of congestion, especially in the south-east.”
With Saturday arriving an average of six hours late, people said they slept in their cars overnight, although some expected much longer.
Andrew Dyer-Smith and his family, who were on their way to France for their winter holiday, spent 21 hours stuck in traffic on the roads around Folkestone. “We got to Folkestone at 9am yesterday morning on the 10.30 train and then we’ve been crawling along slowly for the last 21-plus hours,” he told the BBC.
Natalie Chapman, from Haulier Group Logistics UK, said some lorry drivers had waited “over 18 hours” to cross the Channel in queues with no toilet facilities.
British officials have accused their French counterparts of not doing enough at the border, while Calais politicians have blamed Brexit for the extra checks.
The Port of Dover said it had handled 72,000 passengers – more than 200 miles of tourist and freight traffic – since Friday. He said the partners worked around the clock to clear “large volumes” of vehicles on Saturday.
“But we shouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place,” he added.
Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, has previously accused French border control officials of not having sufficient numbers of police aux Frontieres to staff the passport board – a charge denied by the French.
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Only four of the nine booths at France’s border control for travelers leaving the UK were reported to be staffed on Friday morning, a backlog port officials said.
On Sunday, Bannister thanked commuters and the city’s residents for their understanding “during this challenging time”.
He added: “I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has turned this around, from the French and UK authorities to the ferry operators, Kent Partners and our own port staff.
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