Holiday traffic between the United Kingdom and France ground to a halt on 20 December after the Police aux Frontières passport-control system went offline for almost four hours. The incident, confirmed in a post-mortem note published on 22 December, affected the Port of Dover’s French kiosks and Eurotunnel’s Folkestone terminal simultaneously, forcing officers to revert to manual stamping.
With more than 30,000 vehicles forecast for the pre-Christmas weekend, the outage quickly overwhelmed approach roads. Queues stretched several kilometres along the A20 and A2, and lorry drivers had to pause journeys to comply with EU tachograph rules. Ferry operator P&O re-booked missed sailings free of charge, while freight forwarders warned that just-in-time supply chains for supermarkets were running up to six hours late.
For travellers keen to avoid additional surprises at the border, VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/france/) offers real-time guidance on French visa and passport validity rules, optional courier services for fast processing, and alert subscriptions that flag system outages or policy changes. Using the service allows holidaymakers, corporate mobility teams and drivers alike to ensure paperwork is in order before setting off, reducing the risk of further delay.
![French Border-Control IT Crash Creates Four-Hour Gridlock at Dover & Eurotunnel]()
Border-force unions say the failure highlights the fragility of ageing IT ahead of the roll-out of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) in October 2025, which will add biometric checks. They are demanding additional staff and redundancy servers at juxtaposed ports before the summer tourist peak.
Corporate mobility managers moving staff by road or coach are advised to schedule extra buffer time, pre-book flexible tickets and warn assignees that similar glitches could recur during the EES transition period. Eurotunnel has promised a root-cause report in January 2026 and says it will test fail-over protocols with French authorities early next quarter.
The French Interior Ministry, which oversees border police, has not commented publicly but is understood to be coordinating with the UK Home Office on contingency plans for the New Year return rush.
With more than 30,000 vehicles forecast for the pre-Christmas weekend, the outage quickly overwhelmed approach roads. Queues stretched several kilometres along the A20 and A2, and lorry drivers had to pause journeys to comply with EU tachograph rules. Ferry operator P&O re-booked missed sailings free of charge, while freight forwarders warned that just-in-time supply chains for supermarkets were running up to six hours late.
For travellers keen to avoid additional surprises at the border, VisaHQ’s online platform (https://www.visahq.com/france/) offers real-time guidance on French visa and passport validity rules, optional courier services for fast processing, and alert subscriptions that flag system outages or policy changes. Using the service allows holidaymakers, corporate mobility teams and drivers alike to ensure paperwork is in order before setting off, reducing the risk of further delay.
Border-force unions say the failure highlights the fragility of ageing IT ahead of the roll-out of the EU Entry/Exit System (EES) in October 2025, which will add biometric checks. They are demanding additional staff and redundancy servers at juxtaposed ports before the summer tourist peak.
Corporate mobility managers moving staff by road or coach are advised to schedule extra buffer time, pre-book flexible tickets and warn assignees that similar glitches could recur during the EES transition period. Eurotunnel has promised a root-cause report in January 2026 and says it will test fail-over protocols with French authorities early next quarter.
The French Interior Ministry, which oversees border police, has not commented publicly but is understood to be coordinating with the UK Home Office on contingency plans for the New Year return rush.
