Dover (United Kingdom) (AFP)

Finally on the start, the thousands of truckers still stranded around the English port of Dover received on Friday, failing to be able to return home in time for Christmas, a little comfort thanks to an effective chain of solidarity.

"You can see it just in their faces, they are at their wits end", observes Umit Saban, 45, arrived early in the morning from London with a chest full of 300 Christmas meals, prepared in his restaurant, which he wanted to come. distribute to drivers.

In the bag, a soda, chicken and rice still hot in a tray and generous handfuls of small multicolored Turkish delights.

"It's Christmas! We couldn't leave them like that," the restaurateur, who runs from his trunk to the road, bags in hand, told AFP.

A driver with a truck registered in Poland slows down, opens his window, rolls the V for victory, grabs his "Xmas Package" and screams, blowing steam into the icy harbor air "and merry Christmas" before heading for the terminal.

After 48 hours of total closure, France has since Wednesday morning allowed the return of drivers stuck on the British side, on condition of presenting a negative Covid test.

Thousands of them, often on edge, were still waiting on Friday to be able to return home, some parked on the runway of an old airport, others directly on the motorway leading to the main English cross-Channel port as well as to the tunnel. under arm.

After a difficult start, the huge screening operation is now carried out with the support of some 1,100 British soldiers, joined by French firefighters.

The operator of the French port of Calais told AFP to anticipate a return to normal on Saturday.

- "Special Christmas" -

In the meantime, the ballet of volunteers has become a center of attraction for the small town of Dover, in full containment.

A woman arrives in her small car, carrying "hot soup" and bottled water, the product most missed by drivers stranded since Sunday evening.

In no time at all, on the terminal tar, another distribution point is organized.

The bottles are going at full speed.

"Things are moving, finally they can go home," said Ben, a Dover resident who works at the port customs and did not want to give his name.

He came with his family to post at the entrance to the port with his Santa Claus hat and chocolates to distribute.

"We want to show them that no one hates them, that we also understand their pain, after all this chaos, and that it's just great that they can go home," said Santa Claus at the toll booth.

The line of trucks still stretches far on the immense ramp which leads from the motorway to this end of the port, the main exit door to the continent for drivers and their goods.

But even if the monster traffic jam has partly subsided and the lines of trucks are advancing at normal speed towards the terminal, the drivers are not yet at the end of their sentence.

On the boarding area, with their backs to the sea, dozens of brigades of testers, soldiers of the British army or employees of the public health service, the NHS, in fluorescent chasuble, are deployed at the end of these lines of trucks, at the boarding area to coordinate operations.

Lieutenant Colonel Loison, a firefighter from northern France, arrived as reinforcements overnight by ferry with 22 firefighters and a medical team to help the British authorities carry out the tests.

"It's a rather special Christmas for us. But that's part of the mission. The drivers are very cooperative, there was no deleterious climate", assures the lieutenant colonel under his protective mask.

He and his men also found a little of the Christmas spirit in this mission, welcomed on the outbound ferry by a copious "English breakfast" offered by the company to the French reinforcements.

© 2020 AFP