More than 100 new kiosks are being planned on Eurotunnel’s land to tackle delays expected when new EU border checks begin this year.

But bosses say the new system could only cause hold-ups of six minutes at the Folkestone terminal.

The EES (Entry Exit System) checks, due to be introduced on October 6, are dreaded because of fears of 15-hour delays for traffic trying to cross the Channel to France.

The Dover and Folkestone area is already regularly clogged up by vehicles bound for the continent, for example during holiday peak times or episodes, industrial action and bad weather.

A meeting heard that even hearses had been caught in the traffic and one woman was stuck in her car for six hours.

But Natalie Benville, regional affairs manager for Eurotunnel, said the company is making space on its own land at Folkestone for a new checks site with 106 booths and 53 parking zones approaching the new checks.

After passing the EES controls - which will record personal data and travellers’ biometric details such as fingerprints and facial imaging - passengers will then proceed on to the British checks and finally to the French border.

Ms Brenville told a Folkestone and Hythe District Council meeting on Tuesday: “We’ve looked at the processing rate through the new control zone to be an additional six minutes.

“We’ve created a new site, which is currently part of our coach car park.

“We’ve eaten into some of our terminal to give us a bigger area to get the cars through.

“The area that we’ve created allows a greater capacity on site, which then allows the traffic to flow through.

“We have ordered 106 kiosks for the UK terminal. That’s 53 parking areas for individual cars. Based on the volume on a peak day when we have 700 vehicles an hour that’s an additional six minutes to your journey time.”

Ms Benville said it was estimated that 80% of passengers leaving Britain would be non-EU and would have to go through the new biometric checks.

However, these would be valid for three years so no such process would be needed on the return journey.

Construction for the site began last year.

Ms Benville had been speaking at an overview and scrutiny committee meeting at the Civic Centre in Castle Hill Avenue, Folkestone,

Doug Bannister, chief executive of the Port of Dover, also spoke to detail new check-in areas planned at Dover Western Docks to prepare for EES and keep waiting vehicles off the roads.

Coaches and their passengers would be processed at an old boatyard next to Granville Dock and this is planned to be ready by October.

The port authority is considering infilling Granville Dock for processing cars but if this is done, it would not be ready until summer 2025.

Chris Johnson, chairman of Hawkinge Town Council, told of the nightmares in his area when clog-ups have already happened.

He told the district meeting: “A church minister said hearses have been caught in the traffic as they try to make their way to Hawkinge Crematorium. Most of the funeral directors that use it are based in Folkestone or Hythe so they need to come up the road that gets blocked.

“It also has an impact on those trying to get to funerals of loved ones.”

Cllr Johnson had asked townsfolk on social media to explain how the hold-ups affected them.

He said one told him: “We don't go out, it’s worse than Covid at least then we could get to the supermarket.”

He said that even train services are affected because staff can't get to their depot in Dover.

Hawkinge is nine miles from Dover Eastern Docks, where the traffic is headed.

But Mr Johnson explained his town gets jammed up when the traffic control system Dover TAP is put in place, as cars and lorries are diverted off Junction 13 of the M20 and the coastbound carriageway of the Roundhill Tunnel is closed.

John Neale, chairman of the nearby Newington and Peene Parish Council, told the meeting: “My house is the nearest one to the tunnel entrance and the tunnel is part of our parish. My wife was once stuck in traffic coming off Junction 11 for over six hours. It’s a five-minute walk from there to our house.

“She was stuck behind a minibus with eight disabled young children. They were having a nightmare. They didn’t have sufficient drinking water. Fortunately, my wife had some and other people were helping as well.”

The town of Dover is one of the first places to suffer with tourist traffic seizing up whole sections of the town.

Roads are choked several times a year already for reasons such as industrial action on the continent, delays in border checks and severe weather disrupting sailings.

It can also happen during holiday getaway peak times.

Cllr Jamie Pout (Lab), Dover District Council deputy leader, said hours of queues from EES could mean lorries and vans not getting in to deliver food and supplies, even to food banks, and carers delayed getting to patients at home for hours. He said RNLI volunteers struggled to attend callouts for rescues in past holdups.

He added: “Quite a few port workers got stuck in traffic so the people that could help alleviate it were stuck in it. You couldn’t make it up.”

Nadeem Aziz, chief executive of Dover District Council, warned that while past clog-ups in Dover could be for days, problems could be far longer under EES.

He said: ”The really scary bit is that we may be looking at a sustained period. Those community impacts are one thing if they are for an afternoon or a day, they are completely different if it's sustained over many months or even years.”

The EES has been drawn up to register entry and exit data of non-EU nationals – which, following the Brexit vote, now includes the British – when they cross an external border of the continental bloc.

With this, manual passport stamps at Kent ports are to be replaced by biometric facial imaging and fingerprinting, which has to be done in the presence of a French border police officer who will staff the new kiosks at Dover and the Channel Tunnel.

It is feared that the time taken on tourists’ first entry to the European Union could increase significantly under the new rules.

The system collects and processes data on the entry, exit and refusal of third-country nationals entering the Schengen Area - which does not include the UK following Brexit - except Ireland and Cyprus.

Travel between EU nations once on the continent is not affected by the EES arrangements.

Brits visiting four non-EU members which are part of the Schengen Area - Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland - must also pass EES controls.

The Schengen Area is a collection of countries where citizens of the member nations can cross into each other's countries without border controls - the same as travelling between England and Scotland.

EES is used by border guards to track the movements of non-EU citizens. This is to prevent irregular migration and security threats.

The Port of Dover and Eurotunnel have juxtaposed borders, meaning that at both places all checks, for French and British controls, are carried out this side of the Channel.

Before a first crossing, all third-country nationals must register for the system.