Spain: Gibraltar

Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the average waiting time at the border for those travelling from (a) Spain into Gibraltar and (b) Gibraltar into Spain in the last 12 months.

Mr. Jim Murphy
[holding answer 5 March 2008]: The September 2006 Cordoba agreements set out new arrangements for the border designed to improve pedestrian and traffic flows between Gibraltar and Spain. These arrangements, which saw the introduction of red and green customs channels in both directions, came into force in December 2006 and have considerably improved border fluidity. Data gathered by the Gibraltar authorities for traffic travelling from Gibraltar to Spain shows a marked improvement when figures are compared to similar periods before December 2006. Queues with measurable delays only build up in peak traffic periods, usually at the end of the working day and Saturdays. The Gibraltar authorities do not gather data on delay times entering Gibraltar from Spain.