Lorries skipping border checks is disease risk - MPs

Lorries importing meat and dairy products are raising the risk of disease hitting the UK if they avoid border checks, MPs have warned.

Under the post-Brexit system, checks on commercial vehicles coming into Dover do not take place at the port itself, but rather 22 miles (35km) away at a control post in Sevington, near Ashford.

But data provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) shows a rise in so-called "drive-bys", where trucks have failed to turn up at Sevington due to a lack of enforcement.

Defra has been approached for comment.

The data, taken across three sample months, shows that, in November 2025, 18% of flagged consignments of animal products were not taken to Sevington - up from 8% in August the same year.

Parliament's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Efra) - a cross-party group which scrutinises Defra - said this poses severe risks to UK livestock and plants from diseases circulating in Europe, such as African swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease and the plant-harming Xylella bacteria.

The committee said there was growing evidence a reputation for inadequate checks at Dover was leading to criminal gangs importing products that would not legally be sold on the continent.

The committee's chairman, Alistair Carmichael, said Defra's evidence "paints a picture of a dysfunctional system", with "unchecked meat and plant products being let in through the front door.".

He added: "The risks to our livestock and plants are a disaster waiting to happen."

Carmichael said the government needed to make the Sevington system work at least until a new system could be agreed with the EU.

The correspondence from Defra also highlighted a pilot scheme which followed up on plant consignments that had not attended the border control post within three hours of arrival at the port.

Said to reduce "non-compliance" and improve data, Carmichael criticised the government for not committing the resources to keep it going, or expanding it for meat and dairy products.

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