Stranded lorry drivers saw the prospect of spending Christmas with their families fade on Wednesday even after France eased Covid travel restrictions from Britain.
The French government said Tuesday it would relax a temporary UK travel ban introduced after a new variant of coronavirus emerged, allowing EU nationals and residents of EU countries to enter provided they can show a negative Covid-19 test no more than 72 hours old.
But frustrated truckers said there was little chance of making it across the English Channel from Dover to France anytime soon.
-Home for Christmas? Forget it- said Laurent Beghin, a French trucker who delivered a cargo of paint to the UK on Sunday and was still stuck in England on Wednesday.
Beghin, who lives near Dunkirk in northern France, told AFP by phone that he hadn't been able to take the Covid test that would allow him to cross the Channel.
Christian Cosma, a Romanian national, is one of the lucky few to have made it back to the continent within hours of the travel ban being relaxed.
Cosma, who drives a light van, told AFP at a service station near Calais that he was exhausted from a long wait in testing conditions on the British side.
-It was awful, we waited for 50 hours or more, there were no toilets, nothing to eat- he said. -I looked for a local hotel, but everywhere was full.-
Cosma's boss managed to get his driver a Covid test appointment, but he still had to travel for hours from the parking lot where had been waiting to the virus test site.
-I drove 300 kilometres (almost 200 miles) to do the test, and 300 kilometres back to Dover- he said.
On Wednesday, he was still 2,500 kilometres from home, with no chance of making it back to Romania for Christmas Eve on Thursday, but hopeful for the following day.
Cosma said he had his Covid test checked "four or five times in the terminal", and that there were 10 people "at most" on the ferry that took him across.
Truck drivers without a negative Covid test have been loading their trailers onto ferries as unaccompanied cargo, to be picked up by colleagues on the French side.
While waiting, lorry drivers are having to put up with plenty of frustration they are not likely to forget soon.
Beghin said he found a small parking spot for the wait but was fined 70 pounds ($94) for illegal parking and had to move.
-Then we were boxed in like cattle at the airport, with 12 rows and more than 100 lorries per row- he said.
-It's disgusting, there's not even a shower, they just put up toilet booths. Yesterday we got two half-litre water bottles but nothing to eat- he said.
By Wednesday morning, there was no information available on where the truckers might take Covid tests, Beghin said.
-I told my boss, don't bother asking me to go to England again- he said.
