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Dover's £40m EU check site unlikely to open for summer

Helen CattSouth East political editor
BBC An aerial view of dover showing a road network, a large area of new tarmac and sand and land leading down to the sea with a marinaBBC
The Port of Dover has built a £40m processing area on land reclaimed from the sea

A £40m facility built to avoid queues building up at Dover as a result of new EU entry checks will "probably" not be open in time for the summer holidays, according to the port's chief executive.

The new border processing area for car passengers has been built on land reclaimed from the sea and is equipped with 84 kiosks to record fingerprints and photographs.

The site is ready but cannot open until French authorities switch on the kiosks, and there is currently no set date for that to happen.

Port of Dover chief executive Doug Bannister said it was working closely with the UK and French governments to "make certain that the summer runs smoothly".

A large concrete area with low rise buildings / kiosks and lines for queues of cars.
The Western Docks facility has 84 self service kiosks and space for 600 cars

On 23 June 2016 the EU referendum took place and the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.

Since 10 April this year, the EU has required non-EU citizens entering the Schengen zone to register their details under its new Entry Exit system (EES).

Some European airports have reported long queues and passengers missing flights as a result of the enhanced checks.

Bannister said Dover had done "absolutely everything" it could to prepare for EES.

The border processing centre for car passengers has been built on old docks that have been reclaimed from the sea.

Once up and running, it will provide space for 600 cars at any one time, with vehicles moving through the site continuously.

The site is about a mile away from the ferry terminal at the Eastern Docks, so the Port has also developed an AI-powered system to track cars as they move between the two.

Coach passengers have been registering their biometric data through a similar process since October 2025.

A white haired man with dark framed glasses wearing an orange high viz jacket standing in the port with a ferry in the background
Chief executive Doug Bannister says Dover has done everything it can to prepare for EES

Bannister said the EU had been "so impressed" with Dover's system "that they are looking at this place as a model for potentially other land borders".

The site cannot be activated though, until the technology is working for the kiosks, which are the responsibility of the French Police Aux Frontières.

He said there was "no certain outlook" for when that would happen but the latest indications were that it "most probably" would not be available for the summer season.

Biometric data is not currently being gathered from car passengers at Dover but a digital profile must be created for each non-EU traveller.

Over the late May bank holiday weekend, the process was temporarily suspended as long queues began to form.

Bannister said the port was working "very closely" with the UK government and the French authorities to find a "regime that we can put in place to make certain that the summer runs smoothly, should we not have this facility open for cars for the summer".

The port has also increased the number of border points at its Eastern Docks which house the ferry terminal.

Exceptional situations

Kiosks at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone are also currently not operational.

A spokesperson for the EU said the Entry-Exit system was working well at almost all border crossing points.

"Any exceptional situations  can be - and are being - addressed with the flexibilities and fall-back procedures foreseen by EU law."

"It is up to member states to ensure the proper implementation of the EES on the ground."

The Police Aux Frontières has also been contacted for comment.

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