Travel chaos strangling Kent like the scenes of the past 48 hours may continue to hit the county throughout the summer, road bosses fear.

Kent County Council highways manager Toby Howe believes the queues gripping the coast will not ease until Tuesday – as Port of Dover and Eurotunnel tourist numbers are expected to remain high for the next two days.

But the tactical lead for the county's Resilience Forum – which is responsible for emergency planning in the area – thinks there will also be delays next weekend, with figures showing “it will be a busy period”.

And when asked if this is an issue that will repeat itself over the next two months, he warned “it’s a possibility”.

“One of the key problems behind the delay is the resource of customs checks both at Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover,” Mr Howe told KentOnline.

“If that resource isn’t fully in place, that’s what causes slow through traffic both at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel.

“Every time we have these delays due to issues at the portals, it’s Kent that suffers – the residents, communities, businesses.

“There are discussions within government as to what can be done, whether that’ll be a better use of technology or whatever.

“But unfortunately, nothing’s going to happen overnight, so we’ll have to continue managing the traffic as best we can to mitigate that impact on the county.”

This comes after motorists queuing for the port were told yesterday they faced waits of five hours due to issues with French border control.

French authorities pointed the finger at an unexpected "technical issue" in the Channel Tunnel, insisting it delayed their officers from being deployed in Kent on Friday morning.

But Eurotunnel bosses state "that is absolutely not the case", and that the problems started "well before" the glitch.

And Mr Howe says the excuse “could be a red herring”.

“The impression we are being given from the Port of Dover is it was simply there wasn’t enough people overnight into Friday,” he explained.

“That’s what caused the problem. The technical glitch wasn’t overnight, so I think that could be a red herring.”

A critical incident was declared yesterday as the border confusion gridlocked Dover, leaving residents unable to get to work and children stuck on school buses.

This morning, there remained delays of up to four hours at the Eurotunnel near Folkestone due to exceptionally high demand, with tourists trying to use the service instead of the port.

Port bosses also said they expected about 10,000 vehicles to pass through the town today.

This was despite the M20 coastbound closure to non-freight traffic being extended overnight, having originally been between just Junctions 8 and 9.

It has led to major problems around Folkestone with residents affected in Cheriton and the western end of the town rejoining the Londonbound M20 and A20 after the Channel Tunnel terminal.

Heavy traffic has also been seen on routes through Hythe.

However, Mr Howe stresses “there are no more plans for additional road closures”.

“The hope is once that once things start to settle then we can pull it back to the traffic management that should be in place,” he continued.

“There won’t be the need to extend that any more. It’s going to be a very busy weekend overall.

“The number of tourists going to the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel is very busy today, tomorrow and into Monday, so we’re expecting there will be delays throughout that period.

“The delays should then reduce as the numbers coming in settle, but again next weekend is going to be a very busy period as well, so there are going be further delays for tourists and freight.”

Motorists are being sent along a lengthy diversion using the A20 and the M2 – while cross-Channel lorries must join the M20 Operation Brock queues, or risk a £300 fine.

In the past 24 hours, more than 100 fixed penalty notices have been issued.

Checks on freight traffic at Brenley Corner on the M2 at junction 7 to prevent lorries bypassing Operation Brock is also adding to delays on the motorway with queues back beyond Faversham.

Officials insist the measures will help combat the travel mayhem at the Port of Dover by "reducing disruption" across the county.

But by 7am, there were already long delays on diversion routes and this afternoon frustration is growing as vehicles trying to access Eurotunnel off the London-bound M20 have been at a virtual standstill for hours.