A council leader says his authority is reviewing its involvement with an emergencies preparation group after a town was plunged into chaos.

Cars and lorries clogged up roads in Dover after ferry operators were overwhelmed by high demand.

WATCH: Cllr Bartlett voices his concerns

Trevor Bartlett, leader of Dover District Council said the port and town seemed to be an "acceptable sacrifice" in emergency planning.

He said his council is now reviewing its involvement with the multi-agency Kent Resilience Forum.

He has now written to its chairman and strategic lead plus leading figures such as the Chief Constable of Kent Police the leader of Kent County Council, and the chief executive of the Port of Dover.

He has told them that local residents and businesses have had enough and were rightly asking what went wrong.

Cllr Bartlett said: “This is an all too frequent event and we appear to have a plan which is not sufficiently comprehensive and does not have adequate resources and speed of implementation to prevent gridlock.

" If the plan and its implementation were sufficient, then why was Dover gridlocked?”

DDC says Dover town was effectively cut off, which was a body blow for local businesses looking to rebuild following the pandemic.

It says that meanwhile vulnerable local people were left isolated without adequate access to carers, medical support and emergency services.

Describing the situation as avoidable, Cllr Bartlett said that DDC officers had raised concerns ahead of the Easter getaway, but these warnings were not adequately heeded.

“Dover appears to be the ‘acceptable sacrifice’ with the KRF’s planning based on the acceptance of gridlock at Dover,” said Cllr Bartlett.

“Whilst I acknowledge the hard work of those on the front line at the weekend, I have to conclude that the views of those of us who know Dover best are being ignored.”

With further pressures expected this weekend DDC has said it is urgently reviewing the circumstances under which it would declare a major incident to elicit a more robust response.

Problems began on Friday and snowballed due to a series of causes.

There was a huge demand for travel because of the school Easter holiday and ferry movement was affected by bad weather.

Also there were far too few cross-Channel ships as P&O Ferries' entire Dover fleet has been out of action since its mass sackings on March 17 and one DFDS vessel was storm damaged.

Chaos peaked on Saturday as even main roads in the town not on the direct port routes were seized up with traffic.

Townspeople who drove could only keep away from blockages by using country lanes that were too narrow for lorries and unfamiliar to tourists in cars.

Shopkeepers Kent Online spoke to yesterday (Monday) said they suffered major losses in takings, because customers couldn't drive to them. Some gave up and didn't open at all on Saturday.

A Kent Resilience Forum spokesperson said: “We fully appreciate the frustrations of Dover District Council in light of the recent severe traffic disruption in the town and understand the impact that this has on Dover residents and businesses.

"As KRF partners we have been working together tirelessly to get traffic moving and have continuously revised the operational traffic management plans in response to the changing circumstances following the loss of P&O vessels at the Port of Dover.

"We are committed to overcoming the current challenges as quickly as possible and remain focused on minimising the impact of future events that may disrupt our county.”