MPs have warned that the Port of Dover faces "utter chaos and miles of tailbacks" as a result of the EU's entry/exit system (EES), unless the technology is fixed or the checks suspended within a week. The chair of the home affairs select committee, Karen Bradley, has urged the UK government to apply "maximum pressure" on the French authorities to resolve the problems before peak holiday traffic arrives, which the port expects from Friday 17 July. The issue matters because it threatens severe disruption for British holidaymakers and freight firms during the busiest period of the summer.

The port has spent £40m building a biometric kiosk facility with 84 automatic kiosks to speed cars through EES checks, but it remains closed owing to technology and software delays blamed on French-supplied systems. EES checks at the start of the May half-term caused delays of four and a half hours, and Dover expects almost 50% more vehicles this summer. The port's chief executive, Doug Bannister, warned of queues spilling onto public roads and affecting both Dover and Folkestone. The warning follows the EU's rejection on Tuesday of calls to suspend the fingerprinting and facial-recognition controls, which officials said were causing problems at only 20 of 1,500 border crossings; airlines and airports across Europe have raised similar concerns.