After Murat Demirbas, a lorry driver from Istanbul, dropped off his load of steel cables in London last week, it took him just a few minutes to complete the checks needed to re-enter France on his long journey home.

Travelling between Bulgaria, in the southeast of the EU, and his home in Turkey, which is outside the bloc, can take considerably longer. “Sometimes we can be stuck on the border for three days,” he said.

Like Demirbas, 50, the other lorry drivers parked behind the Pidou wine store on the outskirts of Calais do not know what lies in store on the night of October 31, when Britain is due to leave the EU, possibly without a deal, which would mean reintroducing customs formalities for