Heidi Alexander's comments came after she met with EU Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, on Monday (13 July), and as the UK and France pledged to increase staffing levels at border controls, including Dover.
Alexander on Sunday (12 July) announced a further £20 million government funding for additional passport booths at the Port of Dover to increase vehicle processing capacity, reduce wait times and ease congestion.
The Guardian reports Alexander's French counterpart, Philippe Tabarot, has agreed extra resourcing at border points will be essential during peak summer, with British holidaymakers poised to start making their getaways this coming weekend.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported at the weekend French border police are ready to deploy more officers on UK soil to staff passport booths at Dover, Folkestone (for Eurotunnel and LeShuttle) and London St Pancras International station (for Eurostar).
The £20 million pledged by the UK government comes on top of the £10.5 million it invested at Dover, Folkestone and St Pancras ahead of the rollout of the EU Entry-Exit System (EES) in October.
The Department for Transport said Alexander raised concerns about the EU's enhanced security checks ahead of the upcoming getaway during her meeting with Tzitzikostas on Monday, and how the UK and the EU can "work together constructively to ensure travel across the border is as seamless as possible in the summer and through the autumn".
Alexander said the meeting "shows everyone is pulling in the same direction", adding she came away reassured the commissioner "understood the concerns of holidaymakers and recognised the need for to work together to make sure journeys are as seamless as possible during the busiest travel period of the year".
While the majority of EU border checks take place in destination at arrival airports, those journeys crossing juxtaposed borders – ferry, Eurotunnel and Eurostar – take place in the UK pre-departure.
The EU has so far dismissed pleas from Europe's aviation sector to ease the new EES checks this summer. It comes after aviation leaders last year warned of the potential for three-hour delays, while new data issued by the WTTC last month suggested a third of Brits would avoid travelling to Europe if delays ran to three hours.
