Gibraltar have started applying checks on non-UK citizens crossing the border in a response to tighter controls implemented by Spain post-Brexit.
In recent days, Spain began dividing people into EU and non-EU citizens whilst queuing to get into the country, prompting delays.
In response, Gibraltar has copied its neighbour by implementing divides in queues, but this time splitting visitors into UK and non-UK nationals.
The row comes amid ongoing talks between the UK and the EU for a treaty on Gibraltar, post-Brexit.
The Spanish-Gibraltar border
Wikimedia Commons
The new system, first executed by Spain, has caused chaos at the border with staff and users adjusting to the new changes.
Irritated commuters trying to enter Gibraltar to get to work have been subjected to massive queues.
On Monday, documents were scanned on a random basis meaning some people could cross the border with ease, whilst others had to wait longer to have their IDs or passports scanned.
Gibraltar’s Chief Minister it has only applied these changes “reluctantly” and criticised the Spanish government for creating a divide in the first place.
The new system led to delays of close to an hour, for both pedestrians and motorists arriving in Gibraltar.
Spain’s Policia Nacional said that they made Gibraltar aware of the changes “more than a week ago”.
However, those crossing into the country said that the police were paying a lot more attention to EU citizens crossing back into Spain, who were subjected to the most length queues.
This led to Spanish workers joining the non-EU queue just so they could enter Gibraltar.
“The latest changes implemented by the Spanish authorities at the frontier are unhelpful,” a spokesperson for No.6 Convent Place, the HQ of His Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar, told the Gibraltar Chronicle.
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Gibraltar has "reluctantly" brought in similar changes
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“They are causing problems, in particular, for the Spanish frontier workers.”
“Gibraltar has today reluctantly started reciprocal, ad hoc, scanning of non-UK citizens documentation."
Spain has insisted that they have not changed the criteria needed to enter and leave.
Gibraltar is still waiting for an EU treaty, but must wait until Spain has a new central government in Madrid, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told television channel GBC.
“Some of the work we have done seems to have been undone by some of the agents that want to undo the good relations,” Picardo said.
“That just leads to a potential deterioration [in relations] but I hope that we will be able to see common sense prevail,” he concluded.