COPENHAGEN - A no-deal Brexit could lead to tailbacks stretching the 80 miles (130 km) from London to the port of Dover as lorries face extra customs checks, the head of Danish freight company DSV said on Wednesday.
Businesses are assessing the impact of the political chaos in Britain after lawmakers defeated Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit divorce deal by a crushing margin on Tuesday, risking a disorderly exit from the EU.
"If there is to be full custom inspection of every truck crossing the English channel there will quickly emerge a queue from London down to Dover," DSV Chief Executive Jens Bjorn Andersen told Reuters.
He added it could take an extra day or two to get goods in and out of the country.
Last week, a convoy of nearly 90 trucks rolled through the southeast English countryside to Dover in a government test-run for a potentially chaotic Brexit.
The port handles 17 percent of the United Kingdom's goods trade. Up to 10,000 trucks a day pass through with everything from perishable food to medicines.
(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen, writing by Stine Jacobsen; Editing by Catherine Evans/Keith Weir)
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