Lauren Moss
BBC South East Political Editor

There are now almost 3,000 lorries being held in Kent as they wait to cross to the continent, the leader of Kent County Council has said.

Roger Gough told the BBC that 2,220 vehicles are now at the airport in Manston.

A further 632 are still being held on the M20 motorway.

Hugh Schofield
BBC News, Paris

President Macron and Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke on Monday, and it is understood that the French side gave an undertaking to find a rapid solution to the blockage.

Most likely it will include compulsory negative Covid tests for lorry drivers coming into France from the UK, and authorisation for European nationals wishing to travel home from the UK for Christmas.

Truckers stranded in Kent for a second night talk of their fears of not getting home for Christmas.

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

Queues on the M20 in Kent aren't exactly unheard of, but the French decision to close the border is dramatic and has caused a lot of disruption.

Politicians on both sides of the Channel are hopeful they might be able to agree a way of getting things moving again before the end of the year.

But if that requires a massive expansion of testing for coronavirus at the border, that's easy to say, far harder to do.

Read more from Laura

The port of Harwich in Essex - which is about 130 miles from Dover by road - is seeing a build up of lorries as drivers divert from Dover, a spokesman for the port said.

The port of Felixstowe in Suffolk is also busy but there are no queues.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said discussions were under way between the UK and France "to find a resolution" to the Channel disruption.

Testing lorry drivers for coronavirus is a "necessity", the president of the Port of Calais says.

Jean-Marc Puissesseau, who is president and chairman of the ports at Calais and Boulogne, said he hoped testing could start "very soon" and hoped a solution could be found in a matter of hours to the closure of the border.

He told BBC News: "I do hope really that something will be found and the hauliers will be able to spend Christmas at home."

He said 1,200 lorries had travelled from Calais to Dover on Monday with a further 600 making the journey as of midday.

Florian, a lorry driver from Romania who has been caught up in the queues at Dover, has been speaking to the BBC.

After a second night trying to sleep in his vehicle, he said he and other drivers were "disappointed and afraid" they will miss Christmas with their families.

"We don't know what to do, I have called everywhere if they can help us and no answer, nobody knows. We have to wait."

He says his family - including his wife and seven-year-old daughter -are waiting for him to return home for Christmas.

He says he told his daughter that is stuck in Kent because the border is closed, "but she doesn't know what the border is, she says 'you have to come, I wait for you, we have to make the tree for Christmas'".

Florian adds that he has asked about getting a coronavirus test, and was told he would not be able to get one of the quick turnaround tests, but would have to wait three days for a PCR test.

Grant Shapps is warning hauliers not to travel to Kent due to the risk of being stuck in the county, unable to cross to France.

France has suspended any travel from the UK, meaning no lorries are allowed to leave the Port of Dover.

Simon Jones
Reporter, BBC South East Today

Last night the government said there were 945 lorries parked up on the M20 motorway.

But driving around Dover this morning, there are HGVs everywhere - on the side of the road, in lay bys and in car parks.

That means the number of hauliers caught up in the chaos is likely to be far higher.

Lorry drivers are used to sitting in delays, and will often sleep in their cabs. But for those I've spoken to this morning, it's the uncertainty that is the most difficult thing.

They don't know how long this will go on for; they don't know whether they will get home for Christmas.

Even if France does reopen the border today, this backlog will take some time to shift, especially if drivers have to be tested before crossing the Channel.

Image source, PA Media

About 650 lorries are parked on the M20 between junctions 11 and 9 as part of Operation Stack, the Department for Transport has said.

These are due be moved to Manston today, a DfT spokesman said.

They will join about 870 lorries that were already on site as of 06:00 GMT.

Lorry drivers stranded in Kent were offered "just one cereal bar" by council officials on Monday, it has been claimed.

Rod McKenzie, managing director of the Road Haulage Association, told BBC Breakfast, their morale was "very poor".

He said: "Many of them are European drivers trying to get home for Christmas. Their morale is very poor.

"Yesterday Kent County Council offered each of them one cereal bar which is a pretty poor effort I think in terms of maintaining their morale and their spirits.”

The British Retail Consortium has said borders need to be running "pretty much freely" from Wednesday to avoid disruption to fresh food supplies.

Its director, Andrew Opie, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There is a problem potentially directly after Christmas and that is really in fresh produce, so we're talking here about things like salad, vegetables, fresh fruit.

"The problem actually is empty lorries, so the empty lorries which are now stuck in Kent, they need to get back to places like Spain to pick up the net (next) consignment of raspberries and strawberries and they need to get back within the next day or so otherwise we will see disruption."

The M20 is closed between J7-J9 until 08:00 GMT while the moveable barrier for Operation Brock is being implemented by Highways England.

The Department of Transport is "strongly advising" people and hauliers not to travel to Kent ports.

"Contingency measures" are brought in to ease congestion as drivers queue to leave the UK.

Sarah Finch challenged a council decision to allow an oil development near her home to expand.

Helen Catt
Political correspondent

As expected, the prime minister and the transport secretary were keen to try to reassure people that they have things under control.

Plans that have been worked on to prepare for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit are now being rolled out to deal with disruption caused by European reactions to the coronavirus variant in the UK.

Although, as we were reminded in the questioning, the trade negotiations rumble on and those plans could be deployed again for their post-Brexit purpose in just a couple of weeks' time.

In terms of solving the immediate issue and resuming usual service across the Channel, the prime minister appeared quite upbeat - even putting a timescale of "the next few hours" on resolving the situation.

What will now be key is seeing if the reality can match that optimism.

Boris Johnson tells a press conference that delays at Dover only affect "human-handled freight" - about 20% of the total going to continental Europe. The government has been preparing "for a long time" for such a situation, he adds.

The number of lorries waiting on the M20 has dropped from 500 to 170, the PM says.

Image source, PA Media

Dover MP Natalie Elphicke has criticised the French government's decision to close the border with the UK as "unnecessary, unhelpful and irresponsible".

"It has caused serious traffic congestion at a time when traffic flows were already high."

"A simple conversation about virus management would have been the right way forward," she insisted.

About 10,000 lorries a day travel between Dover and Calais during peak periods such as Christmas.

But the decision by France to close its borders From 2300 GMT on Sunday means no accompanied freight can leave the area,leading to long queues on the main routes to Dover.

Tory MP Elphicke urged President Emmanuel Macron's government to reopen the border.

"The longer that this goes on, the longer it will take to unwind, meaning that there could be queues past Christmas unless the French reopen the border soon," said Ms Elphicke.

Image source, Reuters

Here's a rundown of some of the key points after France closed its borders to the UK for 48 hours

* Operation Stack has been activated on the coast-bound M20 in Kent.

* Passenger ferries and lorry freight bound for France have been suspended from Dover, Portsmouth and Newhaven.

* Manston Airport is being prepared to take up to 4,000 lorries.

Read more here