channel. that was largely blamed on the volume of coaches arriving here, plus the length of time it was taking to process the coach passengers because they all have to get out of the vehicle now with post brexit checks to have their passports looked at and stamped. the good news today is that the port says over the weekend they are expecting around a third fewer coaches to make the crossing compared to last weekend. bad news, though, ultimately, it may take some time for those coaches to get through. because although the ferry companies have been asked to try to stagger the arrivals of coaches, if you speak to the coach companies, they will say that is not particularly easy because these coach journeys are often booked months in advance and people have hotels and places to get to. it s difficult to say to their customers, can you travel tomorrow or the day after rather than today. the port authority is braced for another
people at stormont. good to see. thanksjoining us. passengers travelling through dover are being warned they ll face delays as millions of travellers are expected make the crossing between france and the uk this weekend. contingency plans have been put in place to avoid a repeat of last week, which saw drivers waiting more than 1a hours. 0ur transport correspondent, katy austin, reports. the long easter weekend is here, and it s traditionally a big one for travel. at the port of dover last weekend, some coach passengers trying to get on ferries to france had to wait 12 hours or more. plans to make things go more smoothly now include spreading out some of today s coach travel to quieter times or to tomorrow. despite the measures in place, the port has warned there could be waits of a few hours at the busiest times today. it s also expected to be a busy few days on the roads, and taking the train instead won t be an option for everybody as a huge programme of engineering work is carried
the port insists it is much better prepared this weekend. it says it has set up a new area in the port, a marquee, where additional passport checks can take place for coach passengers. it was coach passengers who were particularly affected a week ago because in a post brexit world, everyone on a coach now has to get off that coach to have their passports looked at and stamped. the port says it was preparing last weekend for around 650 coaches, but actually, around 800 turned up, and thatjust seemed to be too much for the port to be able to cope with. so now it says it has got additional resources in place. but some are questioning why it didn t better prepare for last weekend and why it has taken a week to put those additional measures in place. but at least it is looking better today than, as you say, last weekend. what about the wider travel picture across the uk on the trains, roads, planes? yes, the warning is,
through dover are being warned they ll face delays, as millions of british holiday makers are expected to head abroad this weekend. contingency plans have been put in place to avoid a repeat of last week, which saw drivers waiting more than 1a hours. our transport correspondent, katy austin, reports. the long easter weekend is here, and it s traditionally a big one for travel. at the port of dover last weekend, some coach passengers trying to get on ferries to france had to wait 12 hours or more. plans to make things go more smoothly now include spreading out some of today s coach travel to quieter times or to tomorrow. despite the measures in place, the port has warned there could be waits of a few hours at the busiest times today. it s also expected to be a busy few days on the roads, and taking the train instead won t be an option for everybody as a huge programme of engineering work is carried out on britain s railway. for example, there are no services between london euston and mi
let s get more on passengers travelling through dover being warned they ll face delays, as millions of travellers are expected to make the crossing between france and the uk this weekend. contingency plans have been put in place to avoid a repeat of last week, which saw drivers waiting more than 1a hours. earlier i spoke to our correspondent simonjones, who started by telling us how things are looking in dover. it s already very busy this morning at the port of dover. we re told traffic turning up at the moment will face a wait of around 90 minutes to get through french passport controls that take place here on uk soil. also some issues on the other side of the channel. coach traffic there is facing a wait of around two hours to try and get back to the uk. but overall, the port is hoping for a much better situation than we saw last weekend, when some coach passengers talked of delays of 12, 13, 1a hours to try and get on board ferries.