SC21080 - Driver Welfare

Duty of care

Kent County Council has long accepted that it has a duty to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need under certain circumstances. As part of this duty it has long had a Driver Welfare Plan in place to ensure that we can deliver aid to those caught in lengthy queues on the roads of Kent. This has been exercised many times since 2010.

The current situation

As a result of the UK leaving the European Union, traffic leaving the country through the two portals - Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel - is subject to a much tighter regime of passport controls and customs checks. This has increased considerably the time taken for traffic to get through the various check-ins and has raised the possibility of severe and lengthy queues stretching out of the ports back on to the roads. This situation has been in being since 1st January 2021, but the impact of the changes has been masked by the restrictions on foreign travel imposed as a result of Covid measure.

Traffic levels have still not returned to 2019 level, currently running at c.30-35% of their previous levels. Flows are increasing though as restrictions drop and the public begin to travel abroad again.

Predictive analytics - managing uncertainty

The KRF has an analytical team working with government departments to understand the current situation attempt to predict traffic levels and the impact thereof. However, there are so many unknowns and variables that making meaningful predictions about the levels of traffic is virtually impossible. Our reasonable worst case scenario (RWCS) predicts queues out on the roads of Kent for up to 50 days per year. These queues may last many hours.

Historically, (i.e. up to 2019) we know that there are number of days in the year when there are particularly high levels of traffic entering the ports and it has often caused temporary blockages. They are typically linked to school holidays half terms and the Christmas/New year break.

Additional information:

A direct award was used due to reasons of extreme urgency (reg. 32(2)(c)), using the Negotiated procedure without prior publication due to reasons of extreme urgency under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (regulation 32(2)(c)).