Travel chaos erupted in Gibraltar on Friday morning after workers were forced to wait in significant queues at the border following an incident that appeared to have been the result of a tit for tat.
Surprise border controls were requested by Spanish police on October 11 between La Línea and Gibraltar despite passport checks being suspended during Brexit negotiations over the Rock.
As a result, authorities in Gibraltar requested passports instead of the usual ID cards from non-British citizens wishing to enter the British Overseas Territory.
The Rock’s government said that by 7.30am a huge queue had formed at the border as many disgruntled workers became increasingly late for work.
An estimated 15,000 Spanish workers cross the border to the Rock every day, while many Gibraltarians have second properties in Spain.
The situation lasted for approximately 45 minutes between 7am to 7.45am.
The Gibraltar government claimed that a Spanish police inspector, who was not authorised to give that instruction, had issued the order on Thursday night to start requiring Gibraltarians to have their passport stamped to cross into Spain.
The Mayor of Algeciras and PP senator, José Ignacio Landaluce, has urged the Gibraltar government not to use Spanish cross-border workers as hostages to exert pressure during negotiations regarding the future relationship between the British colony and the Campo de Gibraltar.
The mayor stated that, as reported by Europa Sur: “Gibraltar has once again demonstrated that it can cause significant inconvenience and harm to our cross-border workers whenever it wishes, but these actions also affect Gibraltarians, their businesses, and companies.”
A source from the Spanish Interior Ministry said what happened was “a confusion” and said the ministry was not aware of the details of what Gibraltar had said about the incident.
“This was a temporary situation, now defused, which caused some queues to form early in the day. By 11 am, the situation was back to normal,” the source said, as reported by Reuters.
The trade union CCOO issued a statement saying they deeply regretted the delays experienced by workers and claimed the delays were the result of the border being used “for political purposes”.
Ordinarily, people are allowed to cross the border without checks. Once the Spanish National Police stopped asking for passports, Gibraltar followed suit and the queues cleared.
This comes just days after Spanish border guards refused passengers in Gibraltar entry into Spain after a BA flight was diverted to Malaga.