Image source, Reuters

The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, says the shops are "well stocked" and "in the short term this is not an issuue, in terms of supply".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “Things are flowing. Most of freight is not accompanied and that can still flow of course.

He said about 6000 lorries would have been expected to use the ferries or Eurotunnel services today but 32,000 units overall would have shipped.

"The shops are well stocked. In the short term this is not an issue in terms of supply but we are very keen to get it resolved.”

Image source, PA Media

The UK government should offer rapid testing to lorry drivers so they will be allowed back into France, according to Logistics UK general manager Alex Veitch.

He told BBC Breakfast: "The silver lining in this very substantial cloud is that we now have measures and tools available that were not here in the first wave of the pandemic.

"Now we have testing and so we are encouraging our government to look seriously at introducing rapid testing for drivers."

He also said he was very worried about drivers who are stuck in their lorries after France closed its border, and that plans to use the defunct Manston Airport site would be an "absolute necessity" for them to get refreshments and use the toilet.

Lorry driver Rick Mayo, who is headed to Spain but currently stuck at Medway services, has commented that “the whole situation is ridiculous."

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "When the pandemic first started trucks were running freely.

"In all honesty, truck drivers don’t come into contact with people, we’re in the truck on our own, we self-isolate for three or four days at a time. When I leave home I don’t see anybody or talk to anybody for the first three and a half days and even then it’s limited, with masks and with gloves on."

Plans were already in place to cope with disruption following the end of the Brexit transition period, the leader of Kent County Council has said as queues formed following France's ban on freight from the UK.

But speaking to Times Radio, he said: "National government has urged vehicles not to come to Kent because we are anticipating some 17,000 vehicles coming into Kent to make the crossing over the next couple of days.

"We were doing an enormous amount of preparation for for January 1 and that involves what is called Operation Brock, however what we are using is called Operation Stack.

"The previous plans aimed at dealing with the impact of the end of transition were for holding vehicles - up to 7,000 - and so clearly there is a need for other measures."

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps says it is "important" to find a resolution with France "as quickly as possible" after it banned freight hauliers and passengers from the UK entering the country.

He told BBC Breakfast that his French counterpart, who he spoke to last night, is also keen to get it resolved quickly.

He says it is also in France’s interests to find a solution and he will be speaking to the French transport minister again this morning.

Shapps adds that most goods come into the UK in containers - 80% - these are "unaccompanied freight" which are not subject to the ban. He also points out that only France have banned hauliers – other EU nations have not.

The BBC's Simon Jones raises the plight of lorry drivers who will be stuck in the UK or France.

Travel to France via the Channel Tunnel is also suspended after France banned traffic from the UK.

The advice to hauliers is to check the latest travel regulations for both countries before departing.

Image source, get

Operation Stack is where parts of the M20 are used to queue lorries travelling towards the continent, to avoid causing gridlock across Kent's road network.

It has been implemented following the closure of the Channel Tunnel and Port of Dover.

France is among a number of European countries to implement travel restrictions in the wake of a new mutant strain of coronavirus sweeping through South East England.

In previous years Operation Stack has caused lorries to be queuing for up to 30 miles in Kent.

Image source, Getty Images

The chief executive of the Road Haulage Association (RHA) has told BBC Radio 4 that the supply of fresh food will be a "challenge".

France has banned lorries carrying freight from the UK amid fears over the new mutant coronavirus strain.

Richard Burnett said: "Fresh food supply where it’s short shelf life and there will be product on its way now, that’s where the challenge kind of comes from."

He added: “The concern that we do have though is that with it being so close to Christmas we’re looking at 48 hours at this point in time in terms of the restrictions, we’re likely to see Operation Stack building in terms of numbers of vehicles on the UK side and that might be a deterrent for EU hauliers to want to come so close to Christmas and end up being stranded here, that’s part of the challenge that we’re facing today.

“I think what Government are looking at, at this point in time, is actually bringing forward their contingency plans that they’d got laid out for the New Year in terms of (post-Brexit) transition and potentially if we start to see a significant number of vehicles parked on the M20 then we may well actually open up some of the truck parks in Kent, possibly Manston in order to take high levels of vehicles."

Mr Burnett said he has had a conversation with transport secretary Grant Shapps last night who assured him he is "working hard with his French counterparts".

Kent Police has put Operation Stack into force on the M20 towards Dover to queue lorries caught up in the disruption.

The coast-bound carriageway of the motorway has been shut between Junctions 8 and 11 as a "contingency measure", the force said.

Manston Airport in Kent is being readied to take up to 4,000 lorries to ease congestion in the county, the Department for Transport has said.

There are reports drivers are being turned away from the port of Dover after attempting to catch a ferry this morning.

The BBC's Simon Jones is in Dover this morning.

Image source, Getty Images

• The prime minister will chair a meeting of the government's emergency committee later after France closed its border with the UK for 48 hours.
• The move, announced on Sunday, means no lorries or ferry passengers will be able to sail from the port of Dover.
• France said the action was necessary because of the prevalence of a new variant of coronavirus in the UK.
• Countries including Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Irish Republic, Turkey and Canada are suspending UK flights.
• Kent Police has put Operation Stack into force on the M20 towards Dover to queue lorries caught up in the disruption.
• The coast-bound carriageway of the motorway has been shut between Junctions 8 and 11 as a "contingency measure", the force said.

We'll be bringing you the latest developments as France closes its border with the UK for 48 hours.

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