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Chaos at Dover: 10,000 angry lorry drivers clash with police and demand to be let across the channel as huge backlog builds up after government admits it will take DAYS to administer 30-minute tests to get them home

Tensions in Dover boiled over this morning as dozens of angry lorry drivers who have been stuck at the port for the last two days clashed with police after testing staff arrived in an attempt to get them moving again. The truckers, who are trying to reach their homes in Europe for Christmas, tried to force their way past officers guarding the port. Hundreds left their cabs and walked along the A20 to the port entrance in Kent at 8am jeering and whistling, with some shouting in English: 'Open the border', 'We just want to go home' and 'F*** you, Boris!' At one point several of them surged forwards towards a line of Kent Police officers who were forced to push them back as days of simmering anger at the chaotic situation amid the Covid-19 pandemic bubbled to the surface.  Some drivers showed police apparently negative results, but an officer said a lot of them were 'fake test sheets'. A deal has finally been struck with France after a ban on arrivals from the UK was imposed by President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, which has since seen thousands of trucks stranded in Kent, unable to cross the Channel. Mr Macron had wanted lab-processed PCR tests which can take up to 72 hours before results are received. But he caved in after a third night of talks following pressure from fellow European leaders who urged a compromise. A Whitehall source said: 'Many of these are European lorries – there are a lot from Poland, for example – and [EU] member states have been telling France they want to get their drivers home. In the end, Macron folded.' It comes as Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick warned it may take a 'few days' to clear the backlog of around 4,000 lorries waiting to cross the Channel. He said he hoped HGVs would begin crossing this morning. The agreement requires every driver to have been tested for coronavirus, using controversial lateral flow tests, which are able to turn around results in under an hour but have had their effectiveness questioned. However experts warned the UK still faces an uphill battle to test 6,000 drivers a day for coronavirus – with the International Road Transport Union warning even a 30-minute test would be 'absolutely a disaster'. Those who come back negative will be told by text message in as little as 20 minutes, and be given the green light to travel, but positive cases will get a PCR test - and if they are still positive, sent to a Covid-secure hotel to isolate. Until January 6, only lorry drivers and French and EU citizens or residents who have an essential reason to travel who show a negative test result less than 72 hours old will be allowed into France. A testing site has been set up at Manston Airfield, 18 miles from Dover, but it is unclear how the thousands of drivers who parked up in the town causing two mile tailbacks and traffic gridlock last night are going to reach it. Another testing point was being set up today three miles away at the Dreamland amusement park in Margate. One Polish driver told MailOnline: 'We are sick of this - I've been in Dover for two days and want to go

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