The government has admitted it is not keeping track of how long lorry drivers are having to sit in queues at Dover thanks to new Brexit bureaucracy.
Hauliers going to the continent have been intermittently stuck in rolling tailbacks since the UK left the European Union, with new paperwork and red tape causeing major disruption to trade.
But ministers now say they have not been monitoring the length of delays – and that data collected by the port authorities themselves cannot be shared with them for “security” reasons.
It comes as the Liberal Democrats called for the introduction of a new waiting time standard so that no lorry is left waiting more than 20 minutes at the border.
Reports emerged this week of grassroots aid for Ukraine, including ambulances, getting stuck at the border because of export red tape imposed by Brexit.
The problem of backed-up lorries got worse in January this year after a customs declaration grace period ended, resulting in a six-mile (10km) tailback on roads leading to the port.
Asked for data on the delays at Dover, which processes 75 per cent of all roll-on-roll-off freight arriving by ferry from Europe, junior Conservative transport minister Robert Court said: “The Department does not hold data on the length of time spent by hauliers waiting to board a ferry at Dover.
“The Port of Dover operates a ‘turn up and go service’ meaning HGVs will be placed on to the first available ferry when they arrive at the Port.
“There may be an occasion when hauliers have to wait which may be due to peak periods of traffic at the Port.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Transport added that “for security purposes, all data on waiting times is held centrally by the ports and it is at their discretion to publish this information”.
The spokesperson said: “We work closely with the Kent Resilience Forum on its traffic management plans to ensure waiting times are kept to a minimum and that any delays are communicated to hauliers via the appropriate channels.”
But Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Europe Layla Moran said the situation was “absurd” and called for ministers to get a grip on the situation with new targets.
“At a time when people up and down the country are caught in a cost of living crisis, the Conservatives should be making trade easier. Instead businesses are tangled up in red tape and lorries are stuck in tailbacks, including those carrying vital aid to Ukraine,” she said.
“We’re in the absurd situation where astronauts in outer space appear to know more about the length of the Dover tailbacks than our own government does.
“It’s about time ministers got a handle on the length of the lorry queues in Dover. The Conservatives must bring forward waiting time standards and publish regular figures so we can hold them to account. If the Government has nothing to hide, they will have nothing to fear.”
The Independent has approached the Port of Dover for further comment.
