Government must hire thousands of staff to avoid post-Brexit customs collapse, haulage bosses warn
Leaving the EU without a customs deal would cause 'enormous' disruption at borders, as checks would increase dramatically
CUSTOMS will buckle under Brexit unless the Government invests a fortune at our biggest ports, haulage bosses warned yesterday.
MPs were told that leaving the EU without a customs union deal would create “enormous” disruption without the hiring of thousands of new staff.
EU products would have to undergo the same checks and red tape as those coming in from outside the bloc.
Execs said it could delay EU goods coming into the UK by lorry by at least 24 hours – threatening chaos for businesses such as supermarkets and Amazon.
Containers may be held up by up to four days in ports as customs staff are forced to check products they currently waive through.
James Hookham, deputy chief of the Freight Trade Association, said the port of Dover wasn’t big enough to cope with the extra number of lorries that would have to park up – or the shipments that would have to be stored.
He said there would have to be a whopping 300 million additional checks.
And he warned: “Dover doesn’t have the space. Absolutely categorically we should avoid physical checks on our lorries.”
Andrew Baxer, head of Europa Worldwide Logistics, urged the Government to start planning now how it will invest in recruitment and new IT systems.
He revealed there were huge inconsistencies in the approach to customs checks - with Tilbury customs closing at four o’clock while Dover is open around the clock.
The exec - who voted FOR Brexit – said: “There are very significant things the Government needs to do.”
Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: “I’m very concerned about the evidence we have heard and the way this could hit manufacturing.”