The UK government has
raised "serious concerns" with Spain about long delays at the border
with Gibraltar caused by a rise in vehicle searches.
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| The delays at the border followed a dispute earlier in the week |
Gibraltar says Spain has created "deliberate" delays of up to six
hours to vehicles travelling to and from the British territory since
Friday.
Foreign Secretary William Hague called the Spanish Foreign Minister on Sunday. Spain has yet to respond publically.
It follows earlier accusations of Spanish incursions into British waters.
Spain disputes UK sovereignty over Gibraltar, a limestone
outcrop on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula, which has been
ruled by Britain since 1713.
'Gridlock'
On Friday and Saturday, Spanish customs officers stopped
thousands of vehicles trying to leave the territory for Spain. On Sunday
the delays switched to traffic trying to enter Gibraltar.
Gibraltar's government said Spain had engineered the delays to traffic.
There were delays of nearly six hours for those leaving
Gibraltar on Saturday in temperatures of 30C (86F) as Spanish
authorities searched "practically every vehicle".
A resident of Gibraltar, David Gibbins, told the BBC
Saturday's delays had meant the territory - which has a population of
under 30,000 - had been "gridlocked".
"People couldn't go to the beach, they couldn't go to their houses and they couldn't go to see their families," he said.
The Spanish government has inflicted
these unnecessary delays on the elderly, children and the infirm in up
to 30 degrees of heat”
Gibraltar government
He said border guards had been "checking every bit of paperwork", which he said never normally happened.
Gareth Gingell, who is a member of the activist group
Defenders of Gibraltar, told the BBC that on Sunday the Guardia Civil
had been "only letting one car through about every 30 minutes".
"It's taking about four hours for people to get through," he said.
On Sunday evening, the Foreign Office said that as well as
the call between the two foreign ministers, the British ambassador in
Madrid had raised concerns with the Spanish deputy foreign minister, and
Britain had "registered our protest" with the Spanish ambassador in
London.
It said it would not speculate on any links to the recent
disagreement between Spain and Gibraltar over the placing of concrete
blocks to create an artificial reef in Gibraltar's territorial waters.
"Our main concerns at the moment are restoring people's basic
right to freedom of movement, and we want to work towards a speedy
solution that will help to ease the very difficult situation and
humanitarian issues at the border and enable a return to normal
operations," said a spokesman.
Earlier, the government of Gibraltar said: "The Spanish
government has inflicted these unnecessary delays on the elderly,
children and the infirm in up to 30 degrees of heat.
"This torture has resulted in an ambulance being deployed to
treat people with medical conditions. On Friday, for instance, a Spanish
man had to be taken to hospital with chest pains."
It said the delays had affected tourists and "thousands" of people who go in and out of Gibraltar every day to work.
'Heavy-hand tactics'
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