Churches Together in Dover gets £5,000 grant from district council after traffic chaos from French border shutdown

By: Sam Lennon slennon@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 10:42, 08 January 2021

Updated: 10:45, 08 January 2021

A £5,000 grant has gone to a group who fed stranded drivers during Dover's traffic gridlock last month.

The district council gave the money to Churches Together in Dover, which gave trapped drivers and their passengers food, drink and welfare support.

Walls of parked vehicles at Townwall Street in Dover in the second day of disruption, December 22. Picture: Sam Lennon

The grant, specifically for the Kent Emergency Chaplain’s Scheme, will help the group respond to any other humanitarian crisis in Dover district.

Roads to the Port of Dover ground to a halt for four days, from Monday, December 21, after the French shut their borders to arrivals from the UK.

This was to keep out the new variant of coronavirus that had just appeared in the UK.

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France reopened its frontiers on December 23 but only on conditon that those entering the country had negative test results for Covid-19.

But the backlog of traffic only cleared by Christmas Day and lorry, car and van drivers were meanwhile left sleeping in their vehicles and running out of food.

Cllr Nigel Collor: "Thank you to all who worked tirelessly."

Cllr Nigel Collor, Dover District Council cabinet member for transport, licensing and community, said: “We would like to say a very big thank you to all our partners, members and staff who worked tirelessly to help during this disruption.

"There is a special mention of gratitude to our voluntary organisations and churches for their welfare support.

"We are very pleased to be able to provide this grant to help Churches Together."

The Rev Dr Jonathan Arnold, Canterbury Diocese director of communities and partnerships, said: "We are enormously grateful for this generous grant.

"This allows the amazing work of church volunteers to continue in providing essential support to those in need.

Traffic is at a standstill on the docks roundabout on December 23.

"December showed us just how vital that work is and, looking ahead, the grant will be invaluable to continue the collaboration and partnership between Churches Together and Dover District Council. "Here in Kent we are uniquely placed to see the impact of world-changing events, but we’re also uniquely placed to be there to help too.”

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Others had also helped during the four-day crisis such as the Salvation Army bringing food and nearby hotels offering drivers use of their toilets,

The Best Western Plus Hotel on Dover Seafront opened its Wheeler's fish and chip shop for 16 hours a day to help feed the stranded.

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