BORIS Johnson says these are “temporary frustrations”, but the trade nightmare fishing firms feared as the Brexit deadline neared in 2020 has been an every day reality since the year turned.

Exports now need more extensive paperwork and extra vet checks on animal produce.

If it sounds like small beer, it’s not – firms report spending almost entire working days on forms and their products aren’t getting to customers because they can’t get them out of the UK.

Logistics leader DFDS in Larkhall has come under criticism for its decision to halt freight due to problems in particular with groupage, or mixed deliveries – an error on one product can keep an entire lorry load from leaving.

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Individual truckers running small businesses have also been affected.

The Scottish Seafood Association says the industry in Scotland “has basically ground to a halt” and firms employing hundreds along the coastline are, in some cases, “close to going under”.

The Scottish Fishermen’s Federation says they’ve been left with a “desperately poor deal” with its chief executive Elspeth Macdonald telling Johnson in a letter released to the public: “We expect to see the details of this compensation scheme as a matter of urgency, and of course this must be new money, and not taken from the £100 million that you have already announced for investment and innovation.”

But UK ministers have said they are working to resolve the problems and have accused the Scottish Government of failing to put adequate systems in place to accommodate the required checks at distribution hubs.

A spokesperson said ministers in Edinburgh should not “abdicate their responsibilities to Scottish businesses”.