The critical incident declared due to cross-channel chaos has been stood down, but business owners say more must be done to prevent a repeat.

Continued easing of delays at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel in Folkestone has seen the rare warning stopped after three days.

Transport bosses declared the incident on Friday morning after staffing issues at the French border control at the port gridlocked Dover's roads, leaving residents unable to get to work and children stuck on school buses.

The summer getaway saw nearly 142,000 people travel through the port over the weekend, and a combination of the delays and collisions left both holidaymakers and lorry drivers queueing for hours.

Reverberations were felt on roads around the area, with Folkestone enduring stationary traffic, while the M20 was shut coastbound from Junction 8 to Junction 12 – a move previously named Brock Zero or Operation Stack.

A row is ongoing over who is to blame for the chaos, with French authorities pointing the finger at an unexpected ’technical issue’ in the Channel Tunnel, insisting it delayed their border police teams from deploying in Kent on Friday.

But Eurotunnel bosses state "that is absolutely not the case", and that the problems started "well before" the glitch.

The tunnel's struggles were just beginning however, with influxes of hopeful holidaymakers trying to avoid queuing at the port resulting in delays of up to five hours.

Issues continued over the weekend even after delays began to ease in Dover, leading one boss to brand Folkestone "the hotspot of holiday hell".

Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for the AA, said that tourists were attempting to take alternative routes and warned that “many are waiting for several hours” to get to the terminal.

Thankfully, delays continue to subside and stand now at just one hour for tourists at Eurotunnel, and 45 minutes for the Port of Dover.

Meanwhile, the closures on the M20 carriageway have been lifted – although Operation Brock continues to remain in place.

As the dust settles, fears remain that there could be a repeat of the gridlock next weekend as more holidaymakers head to Europe during the school summer break.

John Angell, who owns a jewellers in Biggin Street, Dover, told the PA news agency that the government needs to do more to prevent it from happening again.

He said: “This isn’t unusual, we normally see this happen two or three times per year, I have been in business for nearly 50 years and we have seen it every year. This has been going on for so long that we just get used to working through the situation.

“Four of our staff live in walking distance so we could get in, but our customers couldn’t get in – the town was very quiet.

“It does no good for the town, it’s bad publicity and for the cafes and restaurants they lose a good two or three days of trade over the weekend.

“The mood of local businesses is frustration at the fact this happens so regularly, but it’s something we have to learn to live with. It’s not a local problem, it’s an international problem, and the government has to talk to the French to sort it out.

Meanwhile the Dover branch of Action Carpets had to open two hours late on Friday because the staff member set to open the store got stuck in traffic – and it was up to another staff member with a motorcycle to weave through the gridlock and open up.

Branch Manager Gale Dixon said on Monday she was still feeling the effect of the traffic chaos as she had not seen a single customer in the shop all day.

She also questioned whether authorities such as the police could do more to ensure port-bound traffic did not end up blocking local roads.

She explained: “This and the Folkestone branch have been very, very quiet as people have been staying away, even now. We just have to say to customers ‘traffic allowing’ as we give them a time for their carpet fitting, but obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen.

“Every time there’s problems with traffic at the port they let the lorries go through the town – why do they let them through? It gridlocks everything. This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.

“It has affected my business because people are still staying away. Last time this happened I didn’t open the shop at all because the town was gridlocked so there wasn’t any point opening the shop.

“Let’s hope if they’re thinking it will happen again this weekend they have somewhere to put all the lorries or that people change their minds and don’t come that day.”