THE head of a Scottish food and drink body has said companies face a “black Christmas” due to delays at the French border.
The border was closed following news that a variant strain of Covid-19, prevalent in the south and east of England, is believed to spread more quickly. The closure lead to huge queues of lorries in Kent and fears over food supplies, particularly for Scotland’s food exporters.
Speaking in Holyrood yesterday Nicola Sturgeon said the loss of Christmas export trade for seafood exporters especially is “devastating”.
French authorities announced last night that hauliers would be allowed to resume travel across the Channel on a limited basis and with a negative test result.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon raises food supply fears as French reopen border
But there is now concern that this will do little to ease the huge queues.
David Thomson, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation Scotland, told the BBC: “For those people who export fresh and perishable goods, particularly seafood and salmon in Scotland, it’s been an absolutely disastrous few days and it will lead to a black Christmas for those businesses.
“The deal will be far too late for many people who are delivering perishable goods to the Continent.
“It’s too late now to get to customers before Christmas.”
He went on: “We’ve heard of companies that are saying this is the final straw for them and that they will not be able to deal with the losses.
“People have to pay farmers and fishermen, people have to deal with the customers they’ve let down and they will not make the money that they would do in what is of course the most lucrative few days of the year for most food businesses in the lead-up to Christmas.
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“Many, many businesses are going to have a very difficult few days trying to work out if they continue.”
This morning lorry drivers clashed with police in Kent as they continue to be held up by the travel ban.
Footage shows a handful of police officers attempting to push back a small crowd of mostly men in Dover.
It comes as Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick warned it may take a “few days” to clear the backlog of around 4000 lorries waiting to cross the Channel.
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