UK Transport Secretary on travel ban and Brexit

British Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on Monday called France’s ban on freight hauliers “slightly surprising” while reassuring contingency plans for Kent were in place, including the opening up of a lorry park and providing “welfare” to drivers stuck at the border.

“The Kent Dover-to-Calais Eurotunnel, what we call the short straits, is probably about 20% of goods going to and from, in and out of the country," he told British broadcaster Sky News.

But it’s not the mainstay. Most goods actually come in and out by unaccompanied containers and those will continue to flow,he added.Shapps insisted that the public won't notice any shortages “for the most part” as a result of the ban on lorries and that the supply of coronavirus vaccines will continue as they come via containers that are unaffected.

France announced Sunday that it was closing its borders for 48 hours in response new strain of coronavirus sweeping across southern England.The government has urged everyone to avoid travelling to Kent, which hosts many of the cross-Channel ports.

Dover notably sees around 10,000 lorries pass through every day.Eurotunnel, the rail service that links Britain with mainland Europe, has also suspended services.

The chaos at the border comes at a time of huge uncertainty for the UK, less than two weeks before the final stage of Britain's exit from the EU.Though the UK left the bloc on January 31, it is in a transition period that effectively sees it abide by EU rules until the end of this year.

Talks on a post-Brexit trade relationship are still deadlocked and were set to resume on Monday.

(IMAGE CREDITS:AP)