Road hauliers have called for troops to be sent in to break the ferry workers’ strike at Calais as more industrial action is threatened.

The government’s emergency committee met to the discuss the crisis as concerns began to mount about the safety of lorry drivers stuck in sweltering temperatures in huge queues prompted by the strike.

The port of Calais is expected to remain closed until Thursday, forcing all freight heading to Dover to be held at the side of the M20 motorway under Operation Stack – the emergency measure aimed at avoiding gridlock on Kent’s roads.

Cabinet minister Oliver Letwin chaired a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee, while the prime minister, David Cameron, is due to speak by phone with the French president, François Hollande.

Cameron’s official spokeswoman said: “There’s an ongoing situation at the port, with it remaining closed, although Eurotunnel is open. This is part of us making sure that across government, working with the agencies and in discussions with the French, we are making sure we are doing all we can to get Calais back open.”



UK ambassador Sir Peter Ricketts is visiting Calais today to speak to port authorities.

The chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, Richard Burnett, said lorry drivers’ lives were at risk, as the UK Coastguard joined police in delivering bottled water to stranded drivers along the M20.

The delays have been caused by a fresh wave of industrial action by workers at MyFerryLink, who are trying to prevent job cuts after the firm was sold to a Danish group.

Eurostar said it expected to run a normal service on Wednesday for rail passengers after tyre fires on the tracks started by striking workers caused severe delays on Tuesday.

But further disruption was expected elsewhere on Wednesday and police were warning of heavy congestion on roads with long delays and a diversion in place on the A20 and the closure of a section of the M20 around Ashford.

Flames on the tracks after striking workers set alight to tyres on Tuesday Guardian

Burnett described the conditions facing drivers as “appalling” and called for military action to end the dispute. He said: “The UK and French governments must acknowledge their responsibilities to all port of Calais users, move in and act. If this means deployment of the armed forces then so be it.”

Speaking after witnessing the queues on the other side of the Channel at Calais, Burnett added: “The only word to describe what is happening there is absolute mayhem. There appears to be very little, if any, security and demonstrators have closed both the Eurostar and Le Shuttle tunnels by setting fire to tyres. This is not only causing disruption on a massive scale, it is inevitably putting many lives at risk.”

The disruption on both sides of the Channel began on Monday when MyFerryLink workers staged a wildcat strike – the second in a week – in protest at expected job cuts.

Traffic delays caused by last week’s strike prompted an increase in attempts by migrants to stow away on lorries heading across the Channel. High-security fences erected around Calais by British contractors have so far succeeded in preventing a repeat of last week’s scenes.

More industrial action is planned for Wednesday, according to trade unionist Eric Vercoutre of the MyFerryLink works council.

MyFerryLink was previously owned by Eurotunnel, the company that operates the undersea cross-Channel rail link. Eurotunnel’s chief executive, Jacques Gounon, was due to meet the French economy minister, Emmanuel Macron, on Friday, Vercoutre told Reuters.

“We want to make the French, British and Belgian governments understand that if a solution isn’t found to save our 600 jobs, there will be a lot of disruption this summer,” Vercoutre said. “When the mobilisation ramps up, we’ll block everything, which could disrupt Eurotunnel.”

Port of Dover officials said they had no idea when the industrial action would end.

A port of Dover spokesman said: “We sincerely regret the impact to the travelling public, freight and the Dover community of a situation that is beyond our control. We will continue to monitor the situation closely in liaison with our ferry partners and the port of Calais in order to resume normal operations as soon as possible.”

Dover coastguard watch officer Tracy Hawke-Treneer said: “We are currently helping Kent police to distribute food and water. As an emergency service we have the capability to respond to major incidents when needed. However this does not impact on our maritime search and rescue response capabilities.”