Every traffic jam in Gotthard is peanuts: the Sivart family of Thurgau were stuck in a traffic jam for 22 hours in front of the Eurotunnel in Folkestone (GB). The journey home from England, where the family had spent their holidays with the caravan, took 33 hours – three times longer than they had planned.
Alexandra (40) Siewert, her husband (41) and their daughter (16) arrived home in Weinfelden, Thurgau, at 8 pm on Sunday. « After leaving the Eurotunnel in Calais, France, everything went well. We passed by, except during the lunch break, »says Alexandra Sievert.
At home, exhausted dead, he threw himself on the bed. Her husband – the project manager in the locksmith industry – reported back to work a day later and slept by noon on Monday. “He felt it the most, he covered the whole distance,” says Alexandra Sievert.
She herself got up at 6.30 am on Monday and went out to clean the caravan. “After all, as a teaching assistant, I still have two weeks off.”
Miles of traffic jam in front of the tunnel
These days cars are jammed for miles in front of the Euro Tunnel. Sieverts had planned to load his car and trailer into the train at 9.30 a.m. on Saturday.
But nothing came of it: on Saturday evening the family was still in the giant pillar. He had covered only 400 meters in 12.5 hours. And that too in the scorching heat of 30 degrees.
Brexit makes it tough
Since Brexit on January 21, 2020, it has become more difficult to enter continental Europe from the island. The British blamed the French for this chaos. “Some of the French passport counters just remained empty,” Doug Bannister, head of the port of Dover, told the “Daily Mail”. On Friday morning only six out of twelve counters were occupied.
The scenes at Dover have made waves at the highest political levels. Foreign Minister Liz Truss (46), who wants to become the next Prime Minister of Great Britain, described the current situation as “terrible”, but also as “completely avoidable”: “We need to increase capacity at the border”. We need measures from France to limit British tourists and make sure to avoid further disruption and this dire situation in the future. We will work with the French authorities to find a solution.”
Since Brexit on January 21, 2020, it has become more difficult to enter continental Europe from the island. The British blamed the French for this chaos. “Some of the French passport counters just remained empty,” Doug Bannister, head of the port of Dover, told the “Daily Mail”. On Friday morning, only six out of twelve counters were occupied.
The scenes at Dover have made waves at the highest political levels. Foreign Minister Liz Truss (46), who wants to become the next Prime Minister of Great Britain, described the current situation as “terrible”, but also as “completely avoidable”: “We need to increase capacity at the border”. We need measures from France to limit British tourists and make sure to avoid further disruption and this dire situation in the future. We will work with the French authorities to find a solution.”
Alexandra Sievert is amazed at how calmly people queued in front of a 50-kilometer tunnel – this is often the case in Switzerland. “There was no flutter, no respect, no groaning,” says Alexandra Sievert. People stood on the road and walked towards the shop.
Her husband retreated to the caravan for a few minutes to sleep. “I stopped in the car and woke her up when she was a few meters ahead,” says Alexandra Sievert, who doesn’t want to drive the car herself.
Because they already filled the fridge, they could eat all the time. “We ate a lot of cold cuts and yogurt,” she says.
It was not until 6.30 a.m. on Sunday, that they were finally able to begin the 35-minute journey under the English Channel – after 22 hours in traffic jams.
Now for Lake Garda
As soon as they reach home, the people of Thargau are planning to have a holiday again. “In the autumn we’ll probably go to Lake Garda,” says Alexandra Sievert. Of course with Caravan and through Brenner. “We try to avoid traffic jams as much as possible. But if we become one, we can’t change anything.”
In general, sieverts take scary traffic jams calmly. «It was an experience. We just made a fool of it and we weren’t given enough information.”
