There were hopes that an app being developed by the EU could enable some of the registration to be done from home, but it is not expected to be ready for use in October.
At Eurotunnel’s Folkestone and Calais sites, we saw how the company which operates vehicle and freight shuttles across the Channel Tunnel has been preparing for the new system.
The equivalent of £70m is being spent building processing zones, where people will queue in their cars to use automatic machines.
Yann Leriche, the chief executive of Eurotunnel operator Getlink, told the BBC that travellers “will simply [get] out of their car, spend a few minutes on their kiosks, and go back to their car and continue their journey”.
He said it would take “five to seven minutes extra to get through”, but added “as we have extended the number of lanes, there will be no delay on the highway, nothing. It will happen in a very smooth manner”.
The company will recruit 140 new staff to assist passengers.
