Dover port is bracing for severe congestion this weekend as Britain's busiest summer getaway coincides with ongoing technical problems in the EU's new entry-exit border system (EES). A £40m automated facility built to speed up biometric checks in Dover remains unusable due to software faults in France, forcing French border police to manually register non-EU travellers, which could still slow queues significantly despite skipping the required fingerprinting and photographing.

Around 7,500 cars are expected at Dover on Friday and 10,000 on Saturday as peak season begins, with the port urging drivers to stick to main roads and arrive no more than two hours before sailings. Eurotunnel faces similar EES delays but says it does not expect congestion, while more than 14 million drivers overall are forecast to travel this weekend, with the RAC and AA warning of heavy traffic on routes such as the M25 and M3 amid a surge in UK staycations driven by the border issues, heatwaves and post-Iran-war flight concerns.