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06th Feb 2019

Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, has been banned from Calais, a major transport hub

The port's chairman referred to him as 'failing Grayling'

Oli Dugmore

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 22: Transport Secretary Chris Grayling arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at Downing Street on January 22, 2019 in London, England. The Prime Minister outlined Plan B for her Brexit deal to MPs yesterday. It included scrapping the £65 settled status fee for EU citizens and considerations given to amendments to the deal on workers' rights, no no-deal and the Irish Backstop. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

The port’s chairman referred to him as ‘failing Grayling’

The boss of the French port at Calais said he did not want to see Chris Grayling again.

Jean-Marc Puissesseau said the UK government had made plans to divert sea freight away from Calais without consulting him.

The Calais chairman said: “Mr Grayling came to us in November and asked us if we would be ready. We told him ‘yes’, though we did not know as much as we know today. He did not tell us that he wanted to reduce the activity [at Calais].

“It is not fair at all, it is completely disrespectful. I don’t want to see him again.”

Puissesseau was insistent a traffic light system would keep the port operating at full capacity in the event of a no deal Brexit.

“I have heard he is ‘failing Grayling’… He will have to have a declaration if he comes to Calais,” the port chief told the Telegraph. “He will have to go through the orange lane.”

Labour MP Ian Murray said “We should probably ban Chris Grayling from all transport hubs.

“The Government’s Brexit fiasco gets worse and worse.”

Chris Grayling recently came under scrutiny after the Department for Transport handed a post-Brexit ferry contract to a company that doesn’t own any ferries.

He also suggested the EU would be to blame in the event of a no deal Brexit rather than, you know, the Conservative party.