The government has issued a fresh warning that lorries could stack up on both sides the channel causing gridlock at ports in the event that there is no Brexit deal.

The warning comes in the latest set of technical papers issued by the government setting out how a failure to reach an agreement on Brexit could impact different areas.

The papers set out a series of worst case scenarios affecting a range of sectors.

The government says that Britain would seek to strike bilateral agreements with European countries to ensure hauliers would retain access.

At the same time, ministers effectively recognised it may be too late to ensure hauliers could carry goods into the EU, prompting fears of gridlock at ports.

The technical papers say that hauliers would have to apply for special permits and it would be unlikely enough of these would be processed to allow frictionless trade.

“While the government would seek to bring previous bilateral agreements with individual EU countries back into force and conclude new ones as swiftly as possible, the timing for this and the number of permits available under them cannot be guaranteed,” one of the notices said.

The ‘no deal’ papers warn explicitly that demand for the permits "will significantly exceed supply" and firms should prepare for getting fewer than they ask for.

The technical notice states: “In the unlikely event of no deal, UK hauliers could no longer rely on automatic recognition by the EU of UK-issued Community Licences. Hauliers may therefore no longer be able to access EU markets with their community licence alone.”

The Freight Transport Association, which represents the UK logistics industry, said this could mean that only 2% per cent to 5% of trucks currently crossing the UK border would be able to operate.

The technical papers also warn that flights could be delayed and pet owners may have to wait months for pet passports to be processed.

"This means pet owners intending to travel to the EU on 30 March 2019 would need to discuss requirements with their vet before the end of November 2018," the papers warn.

On the risk to flights, the papers warn EU-issued aviation licences would no longer be valid and airlines would have to seek individual permissions to operate across Europe.

Farmers would also be impacted, with the papers suggesting the export of animals and animal products would be delayed by a minimum of six months.