British Sikh charity Khalsa Aid has been delivering hundreds of hot meals to truckers stranded as the border with France was sealed to try and contain a new fast-spreading variant of coronavirus in England earlier in the week.
British Sikh charity Khalsa Aid has been delivering hundreds of hot meals to truckers stranded as the border with France
British Sikh charity Khalsa Aid has been delivering hundreds of hot meals to truckers stranded as the border with France was sealed to try and contain a new fast-spreading variant of coronavirus in England earlier in the week.
While the ban has since been lifted by France on the condition of a negative coronavirus test, the backlog of over 1,500 lorries with an estimated 10,000 truckers stranded for days in Kent will take days before they can get to their destinations.
Meanwhile, in what has been dubbed "Operation Stack" by the UK Home Office, the hungry truckers have been receiving some welcome curry dishes and pizza deliveries.
"1,000 pizzas kindly donated by the Domino’s Dhillon Group franchise in Kent for the truck drivers stranded in Operation Stack. We are blessed with amazing donors and supporters," Khalsa Aid said in a social media statement on Wednesday.
The wider British Sikh community in the area has also rallied together, with the Gravesend Gurdwara preparing hot meals at short notice for the charity to distribute.
"We made some phone calls to get volunteers together because we are already doing Langar, where we deliver to vulnerable people," gurdwara spokesperson Jagdev Singh Virdee told 'Kent Online'.
Together, volunteers rallied to make 500 chickpea curries and 300 mushroom and pasta dishes.
Khalsa Aid founder Ravinder Singh then arranged to pick up the meals from the Gravesend Gurdwara and deliver them to the hungry truckers with the help of a Kent Police escort.