Only three of seven French border control booths are working during the long delays of traffic going into the Port of Dover.

And at one stage only one French officer was available to check passengers on hundreds of coaches, resulting in each coach taking 40 minutes to process.

The Port of Dover revealed this today as countless drivers were left at a standstill on the roads going into the port during heightened security checks.

A spokesman said: “The French border control booths have been seriously understaffed overnight with only three booths available for tourists out of a potential seven.

“At one stage, only one French officer was available to check passengers on hundreds of coaches, resulting in each coach taking 40 minutes to process.

“The Port of Dover, which has no authority over French border operations, raised concerns over French manning levels with the UK Government earlier this week and the Government, in turn, raised the issue with its French counterparts. The current wait remains lengthy and passengers should contact ferry operators for information, consider delaying their departure, and ensure they have plenty of water and food with them if deciding to travel.

The Port shares and appreciates the frustration of the travelling public. We are doing all we can as a responsible port operator. Our chief executive has just spoken with our Dover MP Charlie Elphicke to help us escalate this once again at Government level.”

Meanwhile bottles of water are being delivered to parched drivers stuck on the roads by Kent County Council staff and volunteers from the Coastguard Rescue Teams at Langdon and Folkestone.

A KCC spokesman said: “We are delivering over 11,000 bottles of water as soon as possible to drivers stuck in traffic.”

Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman Julia Gosling said; “Our teams will deliver bottles to drivers specifically on the A20 going into Dover.

"We don’t know how long these delays are going to take but it is very warm weather and it is better to be safe than sorry.

“We are anxious to prevent people being dehydrated.”

The chaos a knock-on effect on roads in the centre of Dover with traffic at Maison Dieu Road in Dover brought down to no more than a crawl.

Stallholders for today’s Port of Dover Regatta commented on social media that they had been held up coming in to take part of the event at the seafront.

Regatta organises, the Port of Dover, said that some stallholders had been deiayesd but all equipment had bee delivered such as the funfair and toilets.

A spokesman said: “A few people have come late. We have had lots of telephone calls about this problem. “