Dover delays ease after traffic 'buffer zone' cleared

Delays at the Port of Dover have eased, with traffic tailbacks now cleared after a weekend of disruption.

A "buffer zone" within the port has been emptied of coaches, ferry operators said in overnight updates.

P&O said there were no more queues for the port's entrance, while DFDS said border controls were "free-flowing".

Some people had reported waiting 17 hours at Dover. Port officials blamed delays on slow border processing and more coaches than had been expected.

Their latest update - issued on Sunday evening - said all traffic had finally managed to enter the port.

Disruption was first reported on Friday, with bad weather taking some of the blame from the ferry operators.

The port repeatedly apologised for the situation, which saw a "critical incident" declared and affected many holidaymakers' Easter getaways. Coach passengers were particularly hard-hit.

Border processing times have increased sharply after the UK left the European Union, travel expert Simon Calder told BBC News on Saturday.

He said things were "gumming up" as each individual passport had to be inspected and stamped post-Brexit.

This view was rejected by the home secretary.

Appearing on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Suella Braverman blamed a "combination of factors" - including a high volume of coaches.

But the government needed to get a "grip" on the situation, Labour's shadow levelling-up secretary Lisa Nandy told Sky News.

Many coaches that got stuck in Dover were carrying schoolchildren from across the UK on school trips abroad.

Late on Sunday, BBC News received reports of coachloads of children still waiting to cross the Channel having arrived at Dover late the previous day.

Rob Howard, a teacher from Dorset travelling to Italy by coach with a group of schoolchildren, said his group had decided to turn around after waiting for more than 17 hours.