No-deal Brexit could trigger 14 days of road chaos, says Highways England

© Daisymay11 | Dreamstime.com - Operation stack migrant chaos Folkestone

The latest in the increasingly nerve-wracking lead-up to 29 March 2019, when the UK is scheduled to leave the European Union: after a freedom of information request, The Guardian has learned that in the event of a no deal, it would take at least two weeks to implement the UK government’s contingency plan to control the passage of road freight movements in and out of Dover. At least we now have a name, Operation Brock is Whitehall’s codename for the movement of cargo post-Brexit. Beyond that, however, the prognosis is pretty depressing: “Under the contingency plan, part of the eastbound M20 – the main artery to Dover and the Eurotunnel at nearby Folkestone – would be exclusively for use by lorries. Ordinary vehicles would be corralled into the London-bound side of the M20 in a contraflow system.”