The M20 has finally reopened to traffic after two days of traffic chaos on Kent's roads but Operation Brock remains in place en route to Dover.

The 14-mile coastbound stretch between Maidstone and Ashford was shut on Friday, with hundreds of lorries stacked up on the road amid delays on the ferries and Eurotunnel.

But at 5pm on Sunday, it was confirmed the road had reopened to traffic with drivers directed on to the contraflow.

HGVs had also been held on one lane further down the M20 and A20 towards Dover. But on the other side of town, the A2 remains closed between the A256 junctions from Whitfield down towards the port.

Lorry drivers who arrived in the queues yesterday morning spent the whole day stuck in a "nightmare" situation as highways bosses warned this morning there could be disruption for "at least two or three more days".

Richard Ballantyne, the boss of the British Ports Association, says the situation is improving - yet states those trying to get to the port or tunnel face long queues.

"The wait is two hours less than it was yesterday, but it's still quite a substantial queue," he said. "The message we've had from police is that the traffic management for local residents is now flowing well, so they're quite pleased with that.

"That's no consolation though if you're sitting in six hours of queues waiting to get on-board a shuttle or a ferry. I do appreciate the difficulty for people.

"The local resilience forum including the police and highway agency are braced for issues for the next two or three days at least.

"If you're travelling at the moment, it can't be much fun so hopefully it will ease."

There is currently no fuel available for lorries at the Stop 24 services off Junction 11 of the M20.

Non-freight drivers trying to access the M20 from that junction could do so, but were told to gain entry further back at Junctions 10a and 9.

Mr Ballantyne says the broken DFDS, which was damaged at Dunkirk last week, should be ready in the next two days.

"If you're travelling at the moment, it can't be much fun so hopefully it will ease..."

"It's all been a perfect storm," he said.

"We've had weather issues, a DFDS ferry out of service, P&O ferries not running at all, and people trying to get away for the Easter break.

"I think this is the first proper holiday time without any Covid restrictions, so there is great demand for people to get away.

"So there's great pressure as it's a very busy period.

"This perfect storm is all made that little bit worse by extra Brexit requirements. Admittedly, that's for inbound traffic primarily, so is less of a challenge when queuing up to get to an exit port, but it does add a little bit extra bureaucratic and physical process time.

"There isn't an abundance of facilities for the lorry drivers stuck waiting, whether it be toilets or opportunities to get food.

"I've seen the haulage community put out pleas for better facilities in the future."

The Operation Brock contraflow between Junctions 8 and 9 of the M20 is meant to allow traffic to pass in both directions when lorries are stacked up.

Yet, National Highways shut the stretch of motorway on Friday.

The agency originally said it was confident the traffic management plan would only cause "minimal disruption".

Today, one of Kent's most senior highways bosses said implementing Operation Brock in recent days had "proved its worth" amid the disruption.