LONDON (AP) — Around 1,000 British soldiers were spending Christmas Day trying to clear a huge backlog of truck drivers stranded in southeast England.
That backlog was created after France’s decision to briefly close its border to the U.K. and demand coronavirus tests from all amid fears of a new, apparently more contagious variant of the coronavirus.
Although around 4,000 international truck drivers were still cooped up in their cabs Friday, some progress was evident. Traffic around the port of Dover was moving in an orderly fashion towards the extra ferries put on to make the short crossing across the English Channel.
Authorities also distributed free food to the drivers and brought in hundreds of portable toilets.